A Game of Shogi between the Gods
by Amidamaru88
Summary: We are nothing but playthings to the gods, but with perseverance, luck and time even gods may die. I got the idea for this fic after reading Destiny is a Hazy thing by Calanor.
1. Chapter 1 : Rig Veda 10:129

I got the idea for this fic after reading Destiny is a Hazy thing by Calanor, check it out it's much better then mine, I wanted to do something similar to it and along the way a lot of things changed with what will happen, it still has some things in common with it so don't be to surprised by them. No pairing is final.

**I do not own Naruto, If I did****he would have met Erza. **

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – normal thoughts  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><em><strong>Listen<strong>_** – biju, higher being thoughts**

**Chapter 1 : **Rig Veda 10:129

A female figure wrapped in darkness with red pupil eyes looked at the sight before her, a projection of the world lay before her, with a few white dots littered around the world in different places. The woman smiled as she approached the projection, the darkness shrouded her face only showing her red eyes that studied the projection intensely, before she spoke in a suave voice.

"The world, what a wonderful place, mortals, ascended beings, gods and even those pitiful so called greater creatures, all have their own plans for what is to come, but the future is not set in stone my dear foolish little friends, and as it often occurs something happens and plans go awry. Life cannot be controlled, the world will not bend to your machinations, the world can change, the world will change", her tone became firm "and your plans will go awry".

Her arms emerged from the darkness towards the projection and red lighting bolts flew from her palms towards it, the image slowly rippled at first before violently rippling and then settling back to normal.

"It is done, chaos shall return to the world, and now" she smiled, "to see how things progress, and to see who shall become my pawns for the game that is to unfold."

* * *

><p><strong>Years later<strong>

A small table with two chairs near it and a shogi board upon it could be seen with a small white globe of light above as it shed light upon the darkness that surrounded it, as far as the eye could see the darkness seemed to spread with no end in sight. Out of the pitch darkness a figure slowly emerged as the darkness received her features became visible. The figure was a woman with long, flowing, wavy scarlet hair that reached to her lower back, she had red pupils and was wearing an elegant dark red kimono tied with a black sash around her waist.

She neared the table with the shogi board on it, _that old fool has been a useful pawn, and he has made good use of those eyes I gave him, but now the time has come for the last player of this game to awaken and join us. _The woman raised one of her hands above the board and from it a red energy emerged and was quickly absorbed by the board and its pieces, as soon as this occured she withdrew her hand from the board.

_For what it is worth I am sorry for the pain that is to come, but he must awaken, the others are making their moves and the time grows ever shorter, even those two stir in their tombs_.

The shogi board flashed red for a moment. _It is done and now the last player shall join the game. I hope you can build your forces fast enough as you will need them._

* * *

><p><strong>Konoha, November, 4 years after the Kyuubi attack<strong>

Izaemon Tōdō looked at the drink in his hand and scowled, a good deal of the bar patrons had gone home by now, the atmosphere in the bar was still the same, the smell of sake and cigars permeated the air. He drank a bit more from his drink before he placed it on the table and he retrieved a cigar from one of the pockets of his jacket and lit it, quickly inhaling hoping that it would calm him down even for just a moment.

He rubbed his forehead with his free hand and thought about what had brought him to he bar today so early, his thoughts had taken a darker turn as of late, he had better control over his thoughts normally and would just bury them deep down in a dark whole, but something just seemed to keep digging them back up and throwing them in his face.

They now drifted to the Kyuubi jinjuriki. _Why is it still alive? even after all it's cost us it isn't dead. Heck who believes all the bullshit about kunais and scrolls, oh there are a few of those guys who claim that it's the same thing, but the Kyuubi is a huge demon, that isn't a mindless kunai, it's mind alone is probably bigger then a fucking house, it's head sure as damn was, how could a kid ever stand up to it?_

_Rumors about how the other hosts were taken over by their monsters are all over the place, and if those things are weaker than the Kyuubi then who knows what the Kyuubi has already done and we just don't know it._ He quickly took another sip of his drink and brought his cigaret back to his lips, he scratched his head, for some reason it felt like he had an itch of sorts that wouldn't leave him alone.

_What if this is how the kid felt when the Kyuubi began to work him over, it probably already has the kid trapped in his own body, and the Kyuubi is using him like a damn Suna puppet, I just know it, I bet I would do everyone a favor if I got rid of it,_ his eyes widened, yes, _I would avenge everyone and end the kid's torment._

A small smile broke out across his face, slowly the itch seemed to be disappearing. _Yes the kid's parents are probably waiting for him on the other side hoping that someone like me would free their son and help to reunite them, they would thank me when we meet up on the other side. If I die then at least I could meet everybody on the other side with a smile on my lips knowing that they would welcome me with open arms and smiles on their faces because of what I did._

Izaemon poured himself another drink and took a sip of it as he finished his cigar and placed it in the ash tray on his table near one of the empty sake bottles. He remembered the night the Kyuubi attacked, he and his friends all lived in a building complex and he had left his home to buy groceries and some sweets his girlfriend Momo had wanted. _My sweet petite little Momo, with her brown eyes and black hair pulled into a bun held in a tied cloth._ When he had left their apartment, she was in her pajamas, a plain kimono, with her hair tied in a loose ponytail and drawing a painting for one of their friends as a present.

Everything fell apart that night, his beloved Momo had a sprained ankle and could barely move, so she was put on medical leave until it healed and she had decided to focus on her painting, his childhood friend Kira and his wife Mai had just returned home with their first child, little Toki, she had her father's blond hair and her mother's onxy colored eyes, everything seemed to be going so right with his life, he had a lover, good friends, his career was looking up, he had made some connections that he could call in later when he needed it.

And then it all went to shit and his beloved Momo and his friends were all gone, the Kyuubi appeared right in the district where he lived and it was there that the creature did the most damage, entire buildings leveled, the fires that started burning that night were only extinguished in the morning. His beloved Momo died, Mia and little Toki as well, his friend Kira had fallen into a coma because of his injuries and he was the one to give him the news about the loss of his wife and child when he had woken up. His childhood friend never recovered, the man fell into a depression and two years later he took his own life.

Izaemon took another sip of his drink as he gritted his teeth, at least his head seemed clearer now, he took another sip for his friends. Most of his friends died that night, the few that lived weren't in the village that fateful night, but had lost loved ones as well, they had asked for justice for the death the Kyuubi jinjuriki but they were denied.

_Why can't people understand that Konoha doesn't need the fucking thing, we've never needed a jinjuriki and we've never had one either, we stand as the strongest amongst the five great nations without any demons on our side, unlike those other pieces of trash, Konoha stands above such lowly pathetic things. Yes I'l do it! _

He slammed his drinking glass down on the table causing several empty bottles to fall off the table and he got up and exited the bar, as he began to make his way to the orphanage, he saw the small cracks on the buildings around, he wondered briefly why he never paid them any attention before now, but then he shook his head, he had a mission to accomplish and a threat to end. Izaemon felt the cold evening wind brush against him and the dust on the road seemed to be blown towards him by the wind. He looked up and noticed how dark clouds filled the sky. _A storms coming eh? perfect it can help cover my tracks better this way_.

* * *

><p>A small blue eyed little boy sat alone in his room, or at least that's what it was called, it was in fact an old closet that had been emptied out and he had been told to sleep there, the air was dank, at the paint on the walls was chipped, small nails and bolts could still be found from where they held shelves not long ago. A few torn and dirty blankets was what he had to sleep on and to cover himself with, he used a small pillow to rest his head, his teary eyes locked on the corner where what little clothes he had lay.<p>

He and the other orphans had returned from the park not long ago were the caretakers of the orphanage had left him alone again, he had played with sticks and stones as no one wanted to play with him or share their toys with him. He tightened his hold on his pillow, the caretakers never let him play with the other children they wouldn't let him sleep in the same room as the other children either. _Why, why do they hate me?_ He let out a tired breath shiting to a side. _I wish the old man with the funny hat would come by more often. _

He had seen how the others were treated, he had seen how the children with parents seemed to be so happy, how the other children had friends and yet he was always denied that. The caretakers always gave him what was left of the food, they didn't let him play with the toys they had around the orphanage and had told the other children not to play with him, they did what they could to keep him away from the others, even the slightest bump against someone, even if the other person was responsible would cause him to be thrown and locked into his room as punishment.

The only people that were kind to him were Tai and his little sister but they had gotten adopted not long ago after arriving at the orphanage, and even then the others picked on him for speaking to him, he wished he could have gone with Tai and his little sister, Kari had always smiled when he made funny faces.

He had looked for them around the playgrounds and on the streets, but never found them again, at least he managed to meet someone nice, a bun haired girl dressed in some red cloths, he had only meet her a few times after that, times that where more precious to him than anything. The girl never said where she lived or why her own clothes seemed to get dirtier and dirtier when they meet again, but he saw how her eyes changed over time, they started to resemble his own.

Naruto closed his eyes and hoped that he could dream of a better world, perhaps he would meet her again tomorrow, as he wrapped his torn blanket around himself, he heard the door to his room open, he hoped the caretakers didn't want punish him for something else, however to his shock he quickly found a hand pressed against his mouth as he himself was brutally lifted of his bed. As he found himself leaving the orphanage he noticed no one seemed to come out to help him, he tried to free himself but however was holding him was too strong, things become a blur as he seemed to move faster and faster, he could only hope that whatever happened would end quickly.

* * *

><p>Sixteen year old Anko Mitarashi sighed as she ran alongside her team, the wind had picked up and storm clouds had rolled in, it looked like it would start raining at any moment, at least they only had a few more checkpoints on their patrol route around the Forest of Death, something that irked her, the patrols weren't as serious as before and parts of the wall surrounding the forest had fallen into disrepair.<p>

She slowed down a bit to match her teammates speed, one of her teammates, Shin Inaho, the son of an important merchant in Konoha had bragged about his great speed and skill and how patrol duty inside the village seemed beneath them, or at least him, now though he was trailing behind.

She sighed once more, it had been three years since her former sensei's betrayal and her return to the village, time that she liked to think she had proven her loyalty to the village, sadly that wasn't the case for some people who still thought she could be a double agent, planted by the traitor.

When she had been thirteen years old her former sensei had turned traitor and left the village but not before taking her and another nine people on a training trip, that ended with him marking them all with a new seal he had created, she was the only one to survive out of the group. She didn't know how long she had been held in a base to be studied or how long it took her until she later managed to break out of that place and return to Konoha, the rest of that year she spent under observation in Konoha, having her mind read by Yamanaka's and going through interrogations to make sure she was loyal.

_Ah hell the Yamanaka probably know the inside of my head better than I do by now, heck they wouldn't let me back on active duty if they thought I could be a spy. _

She had done a string of missions to help redeem her image and save her career, the special jounin rank she was going to receive had taken a monumental effort on her part that culminated with her doing an S class mission, she shuddered to think what it would take to advance further, and yet Shin had graduated later then her and advanced faster thanks to his connections, she beat him on the number of mission done and on skills.

The Hokage had believed that she was innocent and had aided her, but a few times it just seemed like he was stringing her along. Her stealth and infiltration skills were her best skills and even amongst the best in the village, she wasn't sure she would ever get to teach her skills to an apprentice or a team, something that she wanted.

No matter what people said about Orochimaru the man had been a good teacher, though he had perverted the relationship between teacher and student using it for his own goals. She had seen the traitor as a father figure and a role model in many ways, her own parents died when she was young and she had no other living relatives.

After her experience with the traitor she knew now what a teacher should be and what one should do, for her a teacher did more then just teach a particular subject, a teacher needed to guide students to ask the proper questions and not be so concerned with the one right answer. A teacher need to be able to differentiate instruction, provide quality lessons, and allow for students choice in matters of research and assessment.

A teacher needed to be able to handle challenging students and to challenge students all at the same time. Being a teacher was so much more involving than just the physical act of teaching. Being a teacher meant being involved as a learner, it meant being a life-long learner and a curious soul. A teacher needed to serve as a role model for the students and if a teacher did not continually learned and adapted then they couldn't expect their students to just acquire those skills. It was a sacred bond that was to be cherished, for some of the students the teacher could become an important figure in their life, like Orochimaru had become a father figure for her. She wanted to make sure that kind of relationship wasn't stained like hers had been.

As Anko moved forward she heard a small noise right before the sound of thunder filled her ears.

"Did you hear that noise before the thunder?" Daisuke Ono asked, the third member of her team and fellow chunin.

"It was just the wind, don't worry about it let's just finish this damn boring patrol already, the weather's going bad and I don't want to get stuck in the rain." Shin told them in an annoyed tone.

Anko grit her teeth_. This guy wouldn't had survived Orochimaru's training, heck even the training when the war curriculum was still used at the academy._ "I heard it as well, it sounded like someone was shouting."

Daisuke nodded his head. "I think it's up ahead, well find out soon enough."

"Oh come on it's just the bloody wind." Shin commented in a now exasperated tone.

As they neared their check point the a man's voice could be heard and became more and more clear, after a few more steps the reached their check point, one of the gates to the Forest of Death, and saw that it was wide open from the outside. Each team member pulled out a kunai and headed towards the gate to enter the forest, Anko cast a glance towards the gate, the lock was rusty and on the ground. _Damn it. _

Once the team entered the forest they noticed a blond haired man holding a kunai in his right hand with his back towards them that looked to be breathing heavily and a small child on the ground in front of the man, the child looked beaten and bloodied.

The man turned towards them and they could see the insane look he had in his eyes and a grim smile on his face.

"I'm going to kill it once and for all, his parents will thank me, they can be together and the others will be able to rest peacefully." He began scratching his head with his left arm. "And their voices will finally stop then. Will you help me?" He asked letting go of his head.

_Well crap, he's out of his mind_. Anko looked at Daisuke who slowly nodded and shifted his position, when she looked at Shin, she noticed his shocked expression. _Damn it, now's not the time to freeze, we have a kid to rescue. _

"That's that's …." Shin stammered.

"What is it?" Anko hissed.

"That's the Kyuubi brat he's got there." Both Anko's and Daisuke's eyes widened and looked over at the child on the ground, a mop of spiky sun kissed blond hair could still be seen even with the dirt and blood, the situation had just gone from bad to a level far beyond worst.

Shin took a step back with a frightened look on his face. "We need to run away, the Kyuubi will kill us all."

Anko tightened her grip on her kunai, as she looked at the situation, she had only heard stories about jinjurikis, and one going on a rampage was not something she wanted to see, the child didn't seem to be awake or using the Kyuubi's chakra, the situation could still be salvaged, all they needed to do was take down the man in front of them.

"Shin get back in formation" Anko told him.

"No! To hell with this I want to live damn it!" Shin yelled before he ran away.

Anko and Daisuke's shared a look before Anko's free hand went near her pouch and Daisuke took a small step forward, Daisuke would distract the man and Anko would attack from afar to take the man down, if that failed she would get close to strike at an opening the man had.

"Oh I guess it'll be just me after all, that's alright." The man told them before he quickly turned around and brought the kunai down on the child's stomach and gutted him.

Both Anko and Daisuke threw their kunais at the man, Anko's hit the man in his right arm while Daisuke's hit the man in his left shoulder, the man's head was ducked low making a quick kill out of the question. They both began to run towards the man to tackle him and provide first aid while they still had time.

"I did it, he's finally dead, you can rest now Momo!" The man yelled. Anko and Daisuke could all but touch the man before a chakra burst occurred and threw them all back. The worst had happened, the child had tapped into Kyuubi's chakra at some level.

Anko was on the ground and she opened her eyes again, she could see Daisuke a few feet away coming around as well, her gaze shifted forward where she saw the child wrapped in a blood red chakra shroud that now started resembled a fox with two tails, his stomach wound seemed to be healing quickly. She could feel something wrong about that chakra, it seemed to be malevolent, though she noticed something strange about him. _His eyes are closed._

The blond man managed to get up and grabbed a bloody kunai, the one Daisuke had attacked him with, she realized, it had been dislodged when the man was thrown back, he was staring at the child.

"I knew it, you're using him as your puppet Kyuubi! I won't be denied." He yelled as he charged again. Only for the one of the chakra tails to rush forward and stop his attack and the other one to grab hold of the man's torso and slamming the man onto the ground a few feet behind him. The chakra fox's head turned upwards and opened it's mouth, what followed was beyond strange as it seemed to eat the air itself as then it stopped moving and the chakra began to slowly disappear.

_That can't be, did he stop it somehow?_

As the chakra disappeared the boy fell down onto the ground.

The only thing Naruto would remember of that night would that of a woman with long purple hair and with two swords sheaths on her back, wielding two swords standing with her back towards him.

* * *

><p><strong>Inside the seal during the altercation<strong>

The Kyuubi stirred in the seal, as he sensed what was occurring outside with his jailer, it could now see an opportunity to escape with the destruction of his jailor's mind freedom seemed to be close at hand, he only had to wait for another moment before the opportunity presented itself and he jumped to seize it.

What the Kyuubi did not expect was what happened next, as the his jailor drew more on his chakra and his senses expanded more, he could feel something familiar in the air around him, something that he had not felt in ages, something that all but begged him to taste it. He was so enthralled by this, that he didn't even kill the human scum that threw itself at him. The Kyuubi used his host and began to take in the energy around him, it seemed so familiar to him, how could he have forgotten about it has beyond him.

As the first drops of the energy reached him his large eyes widened_. This is…., what is this? mana, magica, reiatsu? How do I know of these things?_ He noticed the inside of his prison began to change its shape, large colored crystals appeared on the walls of the prison, his jail cell seemed to be transformed into a crystal cavern, with each crystal giving off a different color.

He closed his eyes, as he absorbed more and more of the energy, memories began to assault his mind, it felt as if they had been long since buried but now they were rising to the surface with great speed, he screamed as they continued to assault his mind, memories upon memories rushed him. The Kyuubi opened his eyes as pain filled his senses and saw a glowing white crack of sorts appear on his left paw, as he looked at it he realized that it was spreading, more and more it grew and more and more appeared on his large body, on his tails, on his paws, on his snout.

The Kyuubi roared in pain as the cracks enveloped his body and began to glow brighter and brighter until the he seemed as bright as the sun, and then everything stopped, for a brief moment the Kyuubi thought that perhaps he could recover, and in the next moment he exploded and small bits of red chakra scattered through out the cell stopping in mid air and then quickly it began to gather once more into a single spot until it took the shape of a young man where the Kyuubi once stood.

The man wore black pants and a black shirt, he had pale skin, a round shaped face, earth brown eyes, and very short brown hair, as the man blinked and looked at his surroundings he felt a pain in his back and fell to the ground trying to grab onto the floor as the pain swept through his body, it felt as is he was on fire and his bones were breaking. Once the pain passed he looked behind him and saw a young looking woman with pale skin, a heart shaped face, long scarlet hair, and chocolate brown eyes, she was wearing a grey kimono with the lower side blue, the outline yellow and a red scar like symbol on the left side of her generous chest.

"Who are you?" The man asked.

"You already know that, I am part of you." she gave him a warm smile as she knelt down placed her right hand on his face. "Your first true act after your return and you created me, it was for the same reason you cherished Bianca's company, even with all her faults" she said in a disdained tone, "you wanted companionship to help end the eternal loneliness. Now if you are done asking questions whose answers you already know I believe we have work to do." She said looking towards the bars of their cage.

The man grunted and nodded. "Ah, you're right." He said scratching the back of his head. _I kind of knew she wouldn't like Bianca._

"Of course I am." She told him in tone that made it seem like the most natural thing in the world.

"What should I call you?" He asked looking up at her.

The woman placed one of her hands at her chin. "Sayaka, that name is acceptable, we treasured that name at one time."

"Sayaka it is then." The man got up and slowly approached the bars of the seal, Sayaka following at his side, before they stopped and their eyes took yellow glow as they scanned the darkness in front of them before they returned to normal. "The kid's mind has been through hell and his body isn't far behind, I'm going to need to focus on rebuilding quite a few parts and repair others as well."

"So you will create a false front."

"Yes, I figure if anyone comes looking they should find what they expect, we will work on the real thing."

Sayaka nodded her head. "Do you have any idea about why his core has such a dark tainted feeling to it?"

"No, not truly, it is something to investigate, as are these," he told her stepping between the bars and out of the seal as he pointed to strange symbols that adorned the upper half of the seal, and were all but invisible.

Sayaka looked at them with a curious expression. "Strange, a seal of the Shinigami should not have runes upon it, what did actually happen during the sealing? The memories of that night are fractured after a point."

The man shook his head and crossed his arms. "That's something else to investigate, it appears things went more south during the sealing than we originally thought. But for now we need to begin the healing processes on the child's mind, and the first step will be to stop him from using my old form's chakra now that his physical wounds are healed."

"If your going to add the basics to the child's mind will you use our faces? Your parents faces are not clear enough."

The man smiled, "Yeah, I'm sure she made a great mom, and we already have my memories to use as a template." They both raised their hands and were soon enveloped in a golden flame.

"I'll search for a path to freedom once we're done here."

The man nodded. "Right and I'll begin creation of the new realm."

"Eventually though", Sayaka began, "we're going to have to investigate your awakening in more depth, simply remembering the truth after absorbing the magical energies found in the forest seems a bit too convenient."

"It could still be a coincidence, a lucky chain of events, the wounds the child received, his young age and the magical energies found in this part of the forest seem rather strong, perhaps something from the past era left it's mark here that awoke a distant memory. I'm more concerned about my defeat and transformation into the Juubi." He smilled, "at the end it looked like a simple human defeated me."

"Do you see him as what could have been if you had taken a different path to gain power?"

"Perhaps, though I'm unsure if even his strength would have been enough to fight against The Legion, it's still an interesting alternative to consider, a path I may have walked."

The two stopped speaking as they began to focus more on their tasks.

* * *

><p>Two men stood near a bed that had a small child upon hooked to several medical devices, one of the men had his eyes closed and arms raised towards the child with his hands in a square shape.<p>

The first of the two men was a light-skinned old man of below-average stature with short spiked grey hair and had a long and thick goatee, he had pronounced cheekbones, a prominent crease across his forehead, a few wrinkles, a wart near his left nostril, a few liver-spots on his face and he also had several lines running vertically under the outer corners of each eyes that reached his cheeks.

The second man had blond hair reaching his shoulders, which he wore spiky on top and let it flow freely on his back, he had green pupil less eyes and strong facial features, which included a well defined jaw line, he wore the standard shinobi flak jacket over a grey outfit, complete with hand-guards and forehead protector. The second man opened his eyes and lowered his hands once more.

"Well, what did you discover?"The first man asked.

"A myriad of things Hokage-sama," the old man made a get on with it motion, "the bad news is that his mind has shut down in many ways, but the good news is that it is slowly restoring itself, I've helped the processes along as best as I could. His mind seems to be repressing the memory of what happened that night. It will take a while for his mind to recover and he will not awaken from this state until then, his mind is too broken to attempt anything major, I recommend a few more session so I can monitor the processes."

The old kage nodded. "Hmm, good, and the other thing?"

"I couldn't find his connection to the Kyuubi, if it exits it could be hidden or closed off after the traumatic event, but considering the state his mind is in perhaps I simply could not find it as it is in some part I couldn't accesses yet. Once his mind is in better shape I can search for it once more, I can do so during our other sessions if you desire Hokage-sama."

"Hmm, yes that would for the best, very well thank you."

"If I may Hokage-sama"

"Yes, what is it?"

"I would recommend removing Uzumaki from the orphanage the few memories of that place that I have found are not particularly good."

"Oh? What did they contain to make you suggest such a thing, children rough housing each other is normal."

"It appeared that he was treated quite harshly there Hokage-sama, one vivid memory was one morning when someone bumped into him and the caretakers of the orphanage took him and locked him into his room for the day, he was denied food and not allowed to go to the bathroom that day, as punishment for his actions. The other few memories had him not being allowed to play with the toys they had at the orphanage, given only the scraps that remained when they ate. It all looked quite bleak, his room was beyond deplorable, it all reminded me of the prisoner camps during the war, his only real happy memory was when you came to visit him Hokage-sama"

The old kage sighed and nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. "I see, thank you Taigo you may go now." The man nodded and left the room.

The third Hokage turned towards the child's bed once more. "Boar." He spoke in an authoritarian tone of voice. Behind him a figure jumped out of the shadows and took a kneeling position behind him. "What have you discovered in the investigation?"

"The man who attacked Uzumaki was named Izaemon Tōdō, chunin rank, part of the regular forces, we confirmed that he had been drinking heavily earlier at the Rusty Kunai."

"The few people that saw him afterwards mentioned how he seemed inebriated, we confirmed that he was heading towards the general direction of the orphanage. After interrogating the caretakers of the orphanage, we learned that they did not attempt to stop the man when they saw him or report the fact that he had taken Uzumaki, hoping in their own words to get rid of the demon once and for all. Not all the caretakers were aware of the situation and there are those who weren't working the day of the incident."

"And Naruto's Anbu guard?"

"He had taken an extended break, once he returned to his post, he didn't check if Uzumaki was in his room, he simply stood guard outside the room, which is where we found him."

"I see, continue."

"After taking young Uzumaki, Izaemon proceeded to the Forest of Death where he began to torture him. A patrol team around the forest consisting of chunins Mitarashi Anko, Ono Daisuke and Inaho Shin, discovered the two as Izaemon had entered the forest through a gate that was on the team's patrol route. The team mentioned how Izaemon looked unhinged, and rambled, once Uzumaki's identity became clear Inoha Shin fled, leaving his teammates behind. The two remaining chunins made a plan to subdue Izaemon, however before it could be acted upon, Izaemon stabbed Uzumaki in the stomach and gutted him, the two then attacked Izaemon and the wounds on his body suggest they managed to injure him with their kunais. However they were all thrown back when Uzumaki tapped into the Kyuubi's chakra and the chakra created a two tailed fox like construct around his body. It slammed Izaemon into the ground using one of the tails when Izaemon attempted to attack Uzumaki again. We are uncertain of the validity of the next part as it does not make much sense. It appears that Uzumaki in his transformed state quoting chunin Mitarashi simply began to eat the air itself and then he stopped moving and the Kyuubi's chakra around him began to slowly disappear."

"Strange, and what did Ono say about this act?"

"From his point of view the fox construct simply stared at the sky with its mouth open and then faded away."

"Proceed."

"After the chakra construct faded away Uzumaki collapsed on the ground. It was at this point that Izaemon attempted to attack him once more but was stopped by the Anbu Cat."

"What was Anbu Cat doing there?"

"She and her team were training, going through an old training regiment that new recruits used to run, one of her teammates was a sensor who picked up on the chakra burst and alerted them to it. Another member of the team returned to alert us of the situation while the others went to investigate." The Anbu paused for a brief moment before continuing.

"Izaemon died from his wounds, the medical report cites blood loss from the injuries inflicted on him by Mitarashi, Ono and Cat, as well as internal organ damage from being slammed into the ground by Uzumaki. The cause of death was brain damage resulted from Uzumaki's attack, the Anbu present there provided first aid to keep him alive, but didn't notice the injury to his brain, he died while being transported to the a holding cell making interrogation impossible."

The old kage had a thoughtful look on his face and remained silent for a few minutes before he spoke. "Very well, though someone needs to remind Naruto-kun's Anbu guard about when he is allowed to take breaks and their duration, see to it."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

* * *

><p>When Naruto awoke he felt strange, he had experienced such wonderful dreams, he remembered feeling the presence of a caring mother and father, some who cuddled him when he was young, who taught him how walk, to speak and write, and actually playing with friends. But now those peoples faces seemed to blur more and more, he couldn't truly remember how they looked like anymore.<p>

As he looked around the room he was in he noticed it was far larger than his room at the orphanage and far nicer, the bed he was on looked very big and it was comfortable, the sheets were clean, his pillows were soft. Two small wooden drawers where near the head of the bed, one on each side, a window was on right side of the room, with the shades drawn closed, a wooden desk with two chairs was a bit farther from the window, near it was a large filed bookshelf and on the left side of the room was a large wooden wardrobe with silver handles and the room's door.

He noticed that the walls had pictures of different place, one was of a forest with a river running through it, one with mountains who's peaks were covered in snow, another one looked like a garden filled with flowers. _Where am I?_ A small knock on the door brought his attention to it.

"Yes?"

The woman that entered wore dark blue kimono with a red sash around her waist, she had long scarlet hair that covered her right eye, pale skin, a heart shaped face and chocolate brown eyes, she seemed familiar to him for some reason he couldn't exactly place.

"Ah you're finally awake Naruto-kun". She spoke in warm tone, and then took a chair from near the desk and brought it next to the bed and sat down.

He fidgeted looking at the woman. "Where am I mam?"

"In my home, more specifically your room, if you desire it." She told him in a warm caring voice.

Naruto's eyes bulged at that. _This place is my room!? Did someone, did she adopt me?_ "Ano what do you mean mam? Did you adopt me?!" He asked in a hopeful tone, with an underline tone of uncertainty.

"That is a bit of a long story Naruto-kun, to start off with, my name is Sayaka and my other half's name is Yukimura, we've nursed you back to health after you were injured. Now Naruto-kun I need to ask you a question allright?" Naruto nodded. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Naruto rubbed his head with both hands. "I was dreaming, they were some really great dreams."

"And before that?"

"I think I was at the orphanage but I'm not sure, I think there someone with two sharp thingys with their back towards me, but it's all a blur."

The woman raised an eyebrow at that, "I think you mean swords Naruto-kun."

"Is that what they're called?"

"Yes. Do you remember how that person got in front of you?"

He shook his head. "No mam."

The woman sighed. "Unfortunately you were injured not long ago Naruto-kun and myself and my other half nursed you back to health."

"Thank you, mam."

"It's quite alright Naruto-kun." The woman looked towards the door. "Now I do believe that you can enter as well." After she said those words a man entered the room, he had pale skin, a round shaped face, earth brown eyes, and very short brown hair, he was wearing a dark blue shirt, black pants, and was barefoot.

"Hello there Naruto, as my dear Sayaka-chan told you my name is Yukimura."

He nodded towards the man. "Hello sir."

"How you got here and who I truly am, is tied to you in many ways." The man told him as he slowly neared the foot of the bed. "Tell me what do you know about the Kyuubi, Naruto?"

"Um, I know the Yondaime defeated it, I know there's a festival with fun stuff but I'm not allowed to go, I only hear about it."

The man had an annoyed expression on his face. "Well defeat is the right word all right, the Yondaime did defeat the Kyuubi but he didn't kill it he did something else to it entirely."

Naruto asked as he tilted his head. "What did he do?"

"Tell me Naruto have you ever wondered why people treat you so differently? Why they look at you with such cold eyes for no reason?"

A flash of pain crossed Naruto's face. "Yes." he told them in a teary tone. To Naruto's surprise Sayaka moved next to him on the bed and hugged him, it felt so strange to him, he couldn't remember someone doing something similar, and yet felt nice, the woman gently placed him on her lap and continued to hug him.

Yukimura let out an exasperated sigh. "The Yondaime couldn't truly kill the Kyuubi so he locked it away into someone, and that person would become the Kyuubi's jailor."

"What?" Naruto asked, shock clear on his face. "But why couldn't the Yondaime destroy the Kyuubi?"

"Naruto do you know what a biju is?"

"No sir."

"It is a being of pure chakra, even if its body is destroyed in time it will reform and return, if there are ways to kill one humans haven't found it, and the Kyuubi was such a being. The Yondaime had a few choices to make during the battle with the Kyuubi, in the end he decided to lock the Kyuubi away in someone, can you guess who that was?"

"Me?" Sayaka hugged him tighter.

"Yes". Yukimura told him in a somber tone.

"So, everything has been his fault? all the glares? The people being mean to me? All because of him?"

"Naruto the Yondaime did what he thought was right, whether it was the right choice or not is highly debatable, all things considered. And that brings me to who I am and why I'm here now. You see Naruto while the Kyuubi's chakra is still inside of you, the Kyuubi as the people knew it is no more."

"What happened to it?" Naruto asked in a confused tone.

"He has reclaimed his divinity". This time it was Sayaka who answered him

"What?"

"He has become a god once more." Sayaka answered.

"The Kyuubi's a god?!" Naruto yelled.

"He was a god before he became the Kyuubi, just like he was human before that, and now he simply remembered what he once was." Sayaka told him in calm and firm tone.

"How do you know that?" Naruto asked.

"Because I was the Kyuubi not long ago." Yukimura answered him.

"What?! You're the Kyuubi?!"

"I was the Kyuubi" he shook his head "not anymore though."

"But you look so human, you don't look like anything special." Naruto as soon as he spoke this Naruto heard Sayaka snicker behind him.

Yukimura dropped his head down and spoke in a depressed tone. "Well, this is how I looked when I was human and I looked just like this when I started on my path to godhood."

"Wait, you were human?"

"Yes at one point I was human like you are, but things went down hill and I became something else entirely, eventually I ended up becoming a god, though it was not a pleasant process."

"If he was the Kyuubi, then what are you?" Naruto asked looking at Sayaka.

"I am a part of him." Naruto gave her a confused look."He created me at an unconscious level using his own power after reclaiming his godhood, using his power and memories of someone he cared about he made me in her image."

"Can you just make people?" he asked looking at Yukimura and then at Sayaka. "Are you really alive?"

"It's complicated", Yukimura answered, "to explain everything about the creation of life would take too long, but she is alive from a certain point of view."

"Point of view?"

"How a person sees things."

"We are getting off track again, we should return to more important matters." Sayaka stressed.

"Right." Yukimura gave her a nod. "Naruto right now a part of me is still tied to you because of the Yondaime, I personally want my freedom and to be whole once more and doing so requires that part that you have inside of you. To get it back I only have a few options. The first would be to force my way out of the seal, but that destroys the chakra and while I could gather it again in time this option has you dying as well." Naruto tensed at that. "Don't worry I'm not going to do it." Yukimura told him waving his hand.

"Why not?"

"Because you two are alike." Sayaka told him. "You have something in common with Yukimura and even the woman in whose image I am made, you were all orphans and went through great pain, you know the pain of loneliness quite well Naruto-kun" She told him as she hugged him tighter.

"The pain of being alone is completely out of this world, isn't it?" Yukimura asked Naruto. "You see I eventually found people that helped me, I found someone to teach me, I found a family." Yukimura smiled at him and ruffled his hair. "It's why I will not hurt you Naruto"

"That and the fact that I would kick his ass if he tried." Sayaka pipped in.

Yukimura sighed and lowered his head. "You ruined a rather emotional moment Sayaka-chan and an emotional bonding moment as well."

"And yet it is the truth and it still stands true."

"Huh, I really made you in her image didn't I?"

"Yes, I have the potential to whip you in many ways."

Naruto couldn't help it he let out a small chuckle, before he placed both his hands over his mouth and a panicked look mired his face.

"Oh, it looks's like someone finds our little talk amusing," Sayaka said as she kissed the top of Naruto's head. "You should see what the original would do to him, if you think I'm bad she'd leave you gob smacked."

"It's alright to laugh Naruto, don't be afraid." Yukimura then ruffled his hair again. "My second option is to stay with you until we can unlock the seal and I can leave without killing you, time in which myself and Sayaka-chan here would train you in all we could if you accept."

"You would do that?" Naruto asked in a bewildered tone.

"Yes, just like other people did for me I would do so for you. I'm not going to lie to you Naruto, your life will most likely be filled with hardships. Being marked with that seal means that you will have to become a shinobi whether you like it or not. It makes's a weapon out of you for the village even more than the regular shinobi. The shinobi world itself is full of lies and manipulation and your life will be no exception, you will need to be able to see through those and turn them around."

"Turn them around?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, sometimes you can turn the tide on your enemies and trap them in their own machinations."

Seeing Naruto's confused face. "It means you can use your enemies lies and plans against them." Sayaka answered.

"Can you tell me who my parents are?"

Both Yukimura and Sayake tensed at this and Yukimura answered. "We will discover this and when the time comes tell you."

"Then I want to do it, please train me." Naruto told them in an exuberant tone of voice and both Yukimura and Sayaka smiled.

* * *

><p>Yuji Ueda awoke startled from his restless slumber, the dreams had gotten worse recently, he brought a hand to wipe his forehead and noticed he was covered in sweat once more, he cursed again, he hated the country he was in and the island he was on. He looked around his room, it was a modest room, but adequately lit. The walls were painted in dark rose, broken up by drape like, stark white curtains on the windows; the smell of sweat and mold filled the room.<p>

Yuji got out of the bed and went to the bathroom and began to wash, soon he could leave this place behind and return to Kumo, he looked in the bathroom mirror, his face looked more withdrawn, his brown hair looked unwashed and unkempt, he now had a small dark stubble, the hair looked to go every which way, he rubbed his chin and looked at his lower neck, Yuji shook his head, he would shave later.

After he finished washing, Yuji got dressed, black shinobi sandals, a pair of black pants and a grey Kumo flak jacket, leaving one of his shoulders exposed, he tied his Kumo hiate around his neck and placed his pouches with kunai and shuriken around his right and left legs, the last piece, a scroll container, he tied to his waist. Before he left he cast a glance at the room, he had left his blouse in the room, the humidity was too great to wear such a thing, he locked the door and made his way downstairs.

Yuji didn't eat anything even with his stomach grumbling he didn't feel hungry, he blamed the heat and humidity on the island, he crossed the road from the hotel he was staying at to enter the bar across from it. He took a seat at the bar and made a small hand sign, and the bartender, Shougo, a fat man, with long greasy black hair, and a short beard, gave him a large smile, the man's teeth were yellow and a few were missing, he was wearing a white T-shirt with yellow sweat stains, black short pants and yellow slippers.

"Still here my foreign friend." Shougo smiled once more as he placed Yuji's order in front of him.

Yuji grunted and quickly emptied his glass. "Yes, still here." He made another sign for the bartender to fill up the glass again. Yuji had been on the island for a week already, he had taken a simple C – rank mission to deliver a scroll to someone on a small island in Water Country, he thought it would be easy pocket money; sadly a problem arose when he arrived on the island. The person he was to deliver the scroll too had left for the main island of the country, apparently some sort of problem had occurred with a family member of his and he was needed in the country, but he was supposed to return in a week.

Yuji had enquired about the man's destination, but the people were uncertain as the man had mentioned that he may be needed to travel to several places. Sadly Yuji couldn't go searching for the man in the country, there were problems in Water Country and Kiri, the last thing he needed was to get the attention of the people there, with things so tense his presence could only make things worse. So he could only wait on the small island for the client to return, he wouldn't give to scroll to anyone else but the client, that had been the mission, deliver the scroll to the client and no one else, and he would do so. He emptied his glass once more and placed it back down, the drinks helped calm him down somewhat.

"Still having trouble sleeping my friend?" Shougo asked.

"Yes, I don't know how you people manage to deal with the humidity here." He told the bartender as he wiped his forehead again.

Shougo shrugged his shoulders, "You get used to it my friend", he let out a breath, "still many people are having trouble sleeping nowadays, it started roughly a year ago, I don't know why. If you want my friend I have a package coming in later, it can help me make a special drink."

"What kind of drink?" Yuji inquired; he needed something to get through the last two days until the client returned.

"One that helps ensures you have a dreamless sleep my friend." Shougo told him with a wide smile.

"How much?"

"How much is a good night's rest worth my friend?" Shougo made a hand sign for money.

Yuji gritted his teeth. "Fine, you damn shark, when can you have it ready?"

Shougo smiled once more. "Tonight my friend, the package should be here in the afternoon and it'll take a few hours to make, I'd tell you to go buy some sweets or pick up a coconut or two to eat afterwards, the taste is…" he appeared to stumble for words… "exotic, yes exotic!"

"Very well." Yuji placed the money he owed for the drinks on the bar and left, he resolved to explore the island once more to pass the time.

He barely took three steps out of the bar before he heard the old crack pot starting up again.

"He walks amongst us! The child of death!

"With ancient blood in his veins"

"Weapons of destruction in his hands"

"He shall reap across the continent"

"Rivers of blood shall he make"

"Breakers of legends"

"Slayer of those he loves"

"He shall shatter fire to rekindle the flames"

"Hero they shall call him"

"Traitor they shall name him"

He tried tuning the man out before hearing his last words. " ….. shall he be remembered."

_The blood lunatic just doesn't stop with this stuff. I need to put some distance between myself and the city._

As Yuji walked around the island he couldn't explain why it was so hot, it was still morning, and autumn had already arrived, it shouldn't had been so hot, the humidity only added to the rather oppressive atmosphere, it made everything feel sticky. Yuji didn't know how many hours he walked around the island, it wasn't that big of a place, it most likely only had a few hundred people, he doubted any one of them had ever heard of the shinobi wars or knew of the events of the outside world.

At one point the island had been used as a way station for the voyages to the western continent, the sea leading to the place was rough and storms upon it were frequent, the Elemental Nations had made contact with the other continent but sadly many ships were lost on the voyages between the two continents, far to many for people's taste and so the ships going there slowly dwindled.

Though a few ships still left for the place it was often a long journey with its own perils, still ships from the other continent arrived from time to time, they seemed to have persisted and managed to chart some sea routes, the ships would arrive from time to time in The Land of Sea and in the Land of Tea, the sea routes leading to the Land of Water were apparently far to dangerous to use, a part of the sea near The Land of Water had always had it's own problems since ancient times.

As Yuji stopped he didn't know how he had arrived at the beach, but he recognized the place, he had been here days before, he seemed to always end up at this place during his walks for some reason. The ocean here seemed to have a mysterious beauty to it, something you couldn't explain in words and yet felt drawn to it. As Yuji gazed towards the ocean he could swear that for a flicker of a moment that he saw a black spot forming on a part of the ocean as if something was rising from the deep, all the while he could hear a sweet song that was luring him towards the ocean.

He shook his head, he should return to the hotel and get something to eat and then just wait for Shougo to get the drink ready. As he began heading back a small noise from behind him drew his attention, he slowly reached for a kunai with his right hand while looking behind him. Yuki spotted a young girl, no older then ten years old, she had long chestnut colored hair, a heart shaped face, and green eyes, she looked skinnier then the other children he had seen on the island, the girl wore a sleeveless tattered beige robe with patches in some places and had a crown of flowers on her head.

"You're here for the celebration mister." The girl stated.

Yuji simply looked at her. "The celebration?" He asked, perhaps it was some local thing; he wouldn't mind something to help pass the time.

The girl smiled, nodded and pointed in the direction she came from, where a path could be seen, the girl gently took his left hand and started leading him down the path.

Yuji hesitated for a moment, _it could be a trap_, but he had seen no shinobi on the island or someone that looked to even remotely posses shinobi training. In the end, he decided to let the girl lead him to where she wanted. The trip was short; the girl appeared to be following the beaten path, in the distance Yuji could see a few people and hear all sorts of noises, he briefly asked himself if those were songs of some kind.

When he arrived with the girl at their destination the scene before him was that of forty to fifty people gathered around in circles in several places. Yuji and the girl approached one of the circles, the people around the fire were passing a long pipe from which they puffed something, a person there wore a tattered green cloak and a large blue intricate mask, while around the outer ring of the circle people were singing.

Something Yuji noticed was how close to each other the people sat, they all wore the some tattered robes as the girl, to his surprise a few people were sharing the same cloths, the people around the outer ring of the circle swayed from side to side with the rhythm of the songs.

He noticed three girls with long chestnut colored hair had their hair tied together in a braid, the girls gently swayed from side to side as they sang their song, their eyes were half lidded, they were so close to each that the lines showing their separate bodies seemed to slowly disappear. The girl squeezed Yuji's hand and quickly pulled him towards the circle around the fire; he followed numbly and failed to realize how he felt more relaxed, how his steps felt lighter and how a cloud seemed to have blocked out any other thoughts.

As Yuji sat down in the circle amongst the men and women there, he noticed the person with the green cloak and the blue intricate mask pass him the pipe, Yuji took the pipe but kept looking at the person's mask, the face looked beautiful to him, it had a rectangle form, full fleshy lips, barely parted as if to whisper something, a secret between the two of them, the mask had six white lines around it's cheeks, two lines from it's forehead down to it's chin, with strange symbols that his brain had troubled understanding.

The masked person made a sign for Yuji to smoke from the pipe, he nodded and began to puff from the pipe, inhaling deeply before letting the smoke out, he slowly relaxed even more, Yuji took another puff from the pipe before he passed it to the next person, he could all but feel his muscles taking the substance from the pipe within his body, absorbing it slowly.

Yuji couldn't remember how many times the pipe was passed around the circle, how many times it reached him again and he took another puff from it. Time seemed to pass as night seemed to roll onwards and surround them, the fire in front of Yuji slowly grew more and more intense. As Yuji's head grew heavier he slowly heard the songs once more and realized he could understand a few of them, he shook his head and tried to pay attention to them.

"Flesh to flesh, unity once more, flesh to flesh, the time of our lord's return draws near, flesh to flesh, unity once more, soon we shall be one once more, flesh to flesh, unity once more, soon our god shall rise once more."

Yuji shook his head and looked for the girls singing, to his utter disgust he found them and his stomach turned at the sight of them, the girls bodies seemed warped now, they were united, the lines that separated their bodies had disappeared, their shoulders were conjoined, their heads as well, the new body now only head four eyes, the mouths all spoke as one, perfectly in sync with each other.

He looked away from the girls, now a monstrous thing, and towards the ocean, it looked black now, inviting even, suddenly the people began to rise from the ground, he himself did so as well almost unconsciously, his body seemed to move on its own. They all seem to slowly move towards the ocean, the grotesque body of the girls made its way towards the ocean, he noticed the thing only had four legs and seem to stumble forward trying to balance its monstrous body.

He and the rest of the people moved slowly towards the ocean and entered it, the ocean felt so warm and inviting, it was as if he had returned to his childhood home, he felt like someone had placed a blanket around his shoulders and he was back in his room once more safe and sound. Yuji didn't realize when he had submerged under the ocean and began to swim towards a place that called him towards it, the water offered no resistance to him, it felt like the ocean was pushing him forward, attempting to aid him as best it could, lending him what little strength it possessed.

As he made his was forward he could see fish passing him by as if fleeing from something, beckoning him to do so as well, he pushed forward, he could see the people that swam with him had renounced their cloths, he hoped that he would not spot the monstrous body of those girls. Soon Yuji could hear a sound in the distance that grew louder and louder as he continued down his road.

BUMP, BUMP, BUMP, BUMP

Yuji pushed forward; the sound echoed within his body, his heart began to beat faster and faster now.

BUMp, BUMp, BUMp, BUMp

The noise was still there, but he didn't mind, it only helped giving him greater speed now.

BUMp, BUMp, BUMp, Bump

As Yuji moved forward he could see the people in front of him lowering themselves toward the ocean floor and looked to have been swallowed by it.

BUMp, BUMp, Bump, Bump

When Yuji reached the place where the other people disappeared, he saw a large chasm and something on the bottom of it, he began to make his way towards it.

BUMP, BUmp, Bump, Bump.

Slowly as Yuji made his way towards the bottom of the chasm and he could make out a black temple, obsidian perhaps he thought, seaweed did not touch the temple walls, peaks of solid matter four feet tall at their apex and two feet thick with flat sides and smooth upper surfaces which met at very obtuse angles arouse from the top of the temple, it had an ancient splendor to it, intricate markings adorned the temple walls, Yuji realized they were the same symbols that adorned the mask of the green robed person from the circle around the fire.

BUMP, Bump, Bump, Bump

As he got closer to it Yuji knew he could get inside of the temple, the walls could do little to stop him.

BUMp, Bump, Bump, Bump

As soon as Yuji got close to the walls of the temple he passed through them, he could see the cracks in the walls as he passed through them.

BUmp, Bump, Bump, Bump.

After Yuji passed through the walls he continued slowly through the water a bit more and Yuji could see what lay in the temple, it looked like a gigantic mountain of flesh, slowly wreathing, he began to make his way towards it just like the others. The closer he got to the mountain of flesh, Yuji saw walls of flesh that arouse from the mountain and slowly absorbed the other people around the mountain.

Yuji could hear a small voice telling him to turn back, but it sounded like a whisper in the dark coming from a distant cavern. He began swimming towards the mountain of flesh and now he could see the faces of people on the mountain, he could see limbs, arms and legs, even patches of hair, the faces turned towards to him, their eyes opened and their lips moved together.

Yuji moved towards them his arms out stretched, he wanted to touch the mountain for it to absorb him as well, he could all but see the face within the mountain at it's core, a beautiful blue face with full fleshy lips, the mask of the green robed person failed to do it justice, the mask was a pale imitation of the real thing who's beauty eclipsed everything he had ever seen in his life.

Yuji slowly drifted towards the mountain, walls of flesh with eyes and mouths arouse to surround him, a small voice still shouted that he should turn away; he ignored it, why would he ever turn away from such a thing.

As he got closer to the mountain he could see a had arise from it, a pale female hand reaching towards him, the faces all looked at him, singing to him, he reached out towards the stretched hand with his own hands, wanting and needing to touch it. The walls of flesh slowly surrounded him, but he didn't care, he was getting closer to the outstretched hand, soon he would be one with the others. _Flesh to flesh; soon we shall be one once more._

Bump, Bump, Bump, Bump

Yuji could hear his heart beat and that of his god, it was the same now, and they would be one. He was only a few centimeters away from the hand, from his god, from his home; he could feel the heat coming from the hand, the energy emanating from it. Just a few more inches, he could almost feel the current that would arise from the other body when they touched how his flesh would become one with the others, he would dream the dreams of his god, and he would forever hear the words of his god.

Now he was an inch away from the hand, he could feel the energy from his god traveling through his body, he could feel the processes of joining with his god, he could…. a loud sharp sound seemed to boom in the distance and Yuji felt himself pulling away from his god, he could he see the startled looks of the faces, saddened by his departure.

Yuji jumped out of his bed and hit the floor, he was covered in sweat, he looked around and realized he was back in his room and it appeared to be evening, he heard a rooster again, Yuji felt a great rage within himself and wanted to strangle the rooster for what he had dared to do.

He stopped and brought a hand to his head, he didn't know why he felt such a great a rage anymore, he tried to think about it but came up with nothing, he shook his head, _the dreams!,_ they had gotten far worse then before, he remembered some sort of grotesque mountain of flesh that lay under the ocean, his stomach turned, why did he ever dream about such a thing was unknown to him.

Yuji arouse and went to the bathroom as he washed he tried to remember how he had gotten back to his room, he had walked around the island and it's beaches, the heat must have gotten to him he concluded, it didn't matter anymore he would finish washing up and then head over to the bar and wait for Shougo to make his special drink, he only needed to last two more days, as soon as his client returned he would leave the island even if it meant swimming all the way back to Kumo.

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><p>Review away<p>

Constructive criticism or pointing out a possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.

Check out my profile page for polls.

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><p><strong>AN : <strong>

**I think I did a good job with the first part up until the Kyuubi goes boom, the second part got changed quite a few times, likewise the dialog between the three isn't what I hoped it would be. **

**I scrapped a lot of scenes from this chapter, another five scenes were supposed to be added as well. **

Konoha shinobi had every right to think that they were better that the other nations becomes they didn't know that Konoha had it's own jinjuriki since it's foundation, add the fact that it's never mentioned if Mito and Kushina used Kyuubi's power during their lives or if Kushina used it during the war and I think there's some truth to it. A lot of people died during the Kyuubi's attack, heck search Kyuubi attack on youtube and just look at the damage the bijudama did, how many houses did it destroy? How many people died there? Oh yes some ran for the shelters like during the invasion, but consider this, it was during the night, or late evening, the Kyuubi appeared right in the village, no explosions to act as a warning like during the invasion, just sudden death and destruction. It must have done some damage before the shinobi rallied, add the fact that some people were probably paralyzed with fear and injured and the body count just rises.

So Anko was 10 when she graduated from the academy and made chunin at 12, here she's 16 and Orochimaru betrayed the village 3 years ago.

I got the idea for the braid's part from a picture on 9gag.

I recommend reading a few of H.P. Lovecraft's stories, or getting the audio books to them.

I wanted to describe the girl's new body while underwater but decided to skip it.

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><p><strong>Small thoughts on Naruto chapter 661<strong>

**Does anyone else think that Kishi is going for the Digimon Season 2 ending? The whole heroes are stuck in a world of illusions where things are as they desire and the main character has to awaken them. I would love for Naruto to reach Sakura's dream world and see that it's her and Sasuke married with kids and him no where to be seen, that I hope would kill any feelings he still has for her. On the same note him reaching Hinata's world where the two of them have a family would be nice, or Hinata's having her way with his clones. **

**It look's like Kishi really like's fanfiction, a few fics do have Naruto becoming the new Juubi jinjuriki and Sasuke giving him his eyes. Meh Naruto still has the chakra from all the biju, I'm guessing it's going to be him vs Madara with Sasuke throwing Hashirama's jutsu in the mix. If Gaara uses that medical jutsu to revive him I call major bullshit.**

**Sasuke, uh well how do you think he will survive : option a) Sakura save's him, b) Karin save's him, c) Orochimaru save's him, d) he pull's a Zetsu out of his own ass and heal's himself, e ) same shit Danzo pulled only with a twist, knowing Kishi, Sasuke will have unlimited continues, something like heal any wound that would kill you for the cost of a normal bunshin, another secret power of the sharingan.**

**So did anyone else laugh their ass off after the last page where Sasuke got stabbed by Madara? I just want Sasuke to know that how he feel's right now is how Sakura feels 90% of the time, look's like she's going to do something useful and then bam she's useless again and needs someone to rescue her, case in point trying to take on one of the mini Juubi's and failing, big surprise, and needing a man to rescue her. A lot of people were saying that it's Sasuke's time to shine, well ha he shined alright for a few pages he really did, well okay not in the remotely useful kind of way more like he looked kind of cool but hey that's something. **

**Madara using Hashirama's words, nice touch I liked it. **


	2. Chapter 2 : A Dream I wish never ends

**I do not own Naruto, If I did... I would explain how Madara got those weapons that Tobi should have had. **

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – normal thoughts  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><strong><em>Listen<em>**** – biju, higher being thoughts**

**Chapter 2 : A Dream I wish never ends**

"So what will you train me in?"A smiling Naruto, who stood on Sayaka's lap, asked cheeringly.

Yukimura gave him a small smile. "First we will start with some basic knowledge and then move on from that, I still don't have more recent knowledge of the world so until you can go to a library we'll teach you what I know."

Naruto pouted. "That sounds really boring."

"You are still young Naruto, doing any advanced form of physical training would do more harm than good to you now" Yukimura smiled at the boy "what we are going to train is your mind."

He pouted. "But that still sounds boring"

"A healthy mind in a healthy body. It is good saying to live by, quite often a person with a keen mind can overcome those with a stronger body."

"Really" he blinked "but how?"

"Simple, because not all battles need to be fought physically, and even if you have a stronger body if you don't know much you can be easily manipulated by other people." Sayaka chimed in. "As ninja this will be even more important for you."

Yukimura rubbed his chin in a thoughtful manner. "I think we can make learning a few things a bit easier by using games."

"You mean you'll play with me?" Naruto asked in a hopeful tone.

"Of course we will Naruto-kun." Sayaka told him.

"I don't think I ever want to leave this place."

"Eventually you will have to leave Naruto, you see this place is my realm, just like other gods I have my own realm and right now only a part of you is here, your body is in the Konoha hospital."

"But then…"

"Don't worry you don't have to leave soon, we have roughly a year here to train you before you need to go back. There are some rules regarding mortals entering a god's realm and staying there, but you will be able to return, and we will be able to talk to you when you're not here from time to time."

"Ok, but if you're a god can't you make other rules?"

"While I can do that, the rules are made with the human body in mind more than anything else, your body and soul have certain limits that once crossed can destroy you. In this sense I am limited to what I can do, I've already made some changes to you while I was healing you."

"What? You changed something about me?"

"More like fixed a few things that were broken, because of your treatment at the orphanage you were behind other children your own age, I just helped fix the damage done, I did add a bit of my knowledge to you, it's why you're able to understand a few more words then before. And I added something that the ladies will like in the future." Yukimura told him the last part in a sly tone of voice.

"Uh, even after achieving godhood a male's pride is still as sensible as ever." Sayaka spoke in an exasperated tone of voice.

"I don't think he or his descendents will mind all that much." Yukimura let out a small giggle.

"I do hope that you considered a fair and balanced deal for any potential girls he may have." Sayaka told him sharply.

"Of course, it's nothing that big, just you know, a little bonus."

Sayaka let out a sigh."Men and their pride."

Naruto wasn't sure what they were talking about so he just ignored it. "So my body's weak?"

"The human body is an amazing thing Naruto-kun, but that doesn't mean it can withstand a god's realm permanently without certain things happening to it."

"Like what?"

"Changing you into something else, less then fully human, especially if you are still alive when entering the realm, the gods do so to play their own games."

"Whaa the gods play games to?!" Naruto asked in an amazed tone.

"Yes Naruto, but their games often include the lives of mortals as their playthings."

"Huh, why?"

"Why not? Rather than fight it out in an all out battle the gods use mortals as their pawns to help further their influence, they created their own creatures to help enforce that influence."

"That sounds mean."

"It is, in many more ways than you can imagine. But enough of that I think we should do something that every child should experience at least once in their life."

"Of you actually mean it?" Sayaka asked in an amused tone of voice.

"Yep I loved it when I was human." Yukimura answered her in an exuberant tone.

Sayaka laid Naruto gently on the bed and went around the bed to the large wooden wardrobe where she opened it and began looking through it.

"Ano what are we going to do?"

"It's a surprise. But you'll like it." Yukimura told him winking at him.

"Naruto-kun come here." Sayaka told him motioning him over to her side.

Naruto slowly got out of the bed on the side near her and he could see Sayaka with several cloths in her hands, Naruto for his part noticed then he had on a white T-shirt and black short pants on.

"Now raise your hands Naruto-kun." Sayaka asked him in a sweet tone.

As he did so Sayaka helped him put on a thick woolen grey sweater, "All right now put these socks and this pair of pants on," which he noticed were a grey and light brown color respectively, she quickly helped him put them on, "and now this pair of pants", which he noticed, were of a dark blue color.

"Ano I already have one pair of pants on."

"Oh silly those are just to help keep you warm, these are for walking around in, besides these are more fashionable."

"Ano why do I need to two pairs of pants?"

"Well the place we're going to is rather cold."

"And now these boots Naruto-kun."

Naruto for his part had never seen boots like those before, they were of dark color and looked to be made of leather, interior was lined with fur, and the boot had a grey high side. Sayaka quickly helped him put them on and tie their laces.

Yukimura looked at the two smiling he could almost see the original doing something similar.

"Now this Naruto-kun", Sayaka said as she quickly placed a brown trapper hat with grey fur on his head, "oh and let's not forget the gloves, and the jacket."

Yukimura couldn't help but laugh, little Naruto looked like he had put on 10 kilos with all the clothes he had on him.

"You know I don't think he needs all those cloths Sayaka."

Sayaka didn't even look at him as she was helping Naruto put on his jacket. "You know I left you something in the kitchen."

"Really?" He asked in a curious tone "What?"

"A delicious tall glass of shut up juice, you should hurry up and drink it, soon."

"Ahh, I did make you in her image, I almost regret it now."

"No, you don't."

"Yeah, you're right."

"I'm sorry did you say something new."

Yukimura smiled. "Apparently not."

"Ano do I really need all these clothes?"

"Well no, not really, but it's much easier for your mind to accept them given where we're going." Noticing Naruto's confused look he continues. "You see if were to travel to a place that look's to be cold your mind would perceive it as such and would tell you to behave in such a way, the same can be said if we traveled to a place that was to be warm. Creating familiar surroundings so the human mind doesn't break is something rather common for most gods."

"Ano why do the gods care about us mortals?"

"Because Naruto-kun most gods are assholes." Sayaka told him as she finished helping him with his jacket and nodded as she had a satisfied look on her face pleased with her work.

"Well Sayaka may have been a bit blunt with her general characterization, but there is some truth in that, you see Naruto there are two kinds of gods, the first born, who appeared after the creation of the world and the human made gods or the second born gods."

"Humans made gods!?" Naruto asked in a shocked tone of voice.

"Yes, through their beliefs humans managed to create their own gods, and conflict soon arose between the first born and the second born. At first none of the first believed that the second born could ever truly defeat one of them much less kill one, that belief went out the window when one of the first ones died permanently at the hands of a second one."

"Is that uncommon?"

"Yes, very uncommon Naruto, in general killing a god is very difficult, usually it is done by a fellow god, though even if destroyed in time a god could slowly reform and return. However nothing is truly immortal, it takes time, patience and rather unique circumstances but even a god may truly die."

"The first born believed themselves better as they were self sustained so to speak, in essence it meant that they didn't need mortals to worship them to stay alive and gain power, the second born however need mortals to worship them to remain alive and gain more power. For example think of it this way, a god as a bottle, as mortals worship the god, a bit of water is added to the bottle and slowly more and more is added to it, now rather then overflow the bottle grows larger to accommodate the influx of water. The water represents a god's power, as he gains more, his realm can grow as well, to create something else say a new creature or weapon to use in battle a god often has to give up a small piece of his power, something that if you don't have a lot of you may not wish to do. Even if it's just a little bit of water in the bottle and the bottle breaks it can reform in time using that little bit of water in it. To truly kill a god one must destroy the water within him, eventually the water would run out though it would take an extremely long period of time."

"But what about taking away the people that worship him?"

Yukimura smiled and gave him a proud grin. "Good question Naruto, nice of you to pick up on that."

"Now as I said once a god has that bit of power in the beginning even if he was to be destroyed and lose all of his followers once he or she reformed they could attempt to gain other followers. Even if it took a few years or a hundred years, a god could even attempt and gain followers in another part of the world rather than in the one where they were destroyed. They could either try to inspire a normal human and make them into their prophet in that region or find a way to send one of their already established preachers to that new region to spread his religion."

"So the more people who worship a god has the more power he can gain." Yukimura gave him a small head nod. "So what kind are you?"

"I was more of a first born one in my old form before then becoming the Juubi, who in turn ironically was also called the Devourer of Gods."

"Wait! you killed gods before? You ate them?"

"Yes, I devoured their power and added it to my own before, and as the Juubi and I did the same thing as my other form, though in my first god form I only devoured or killed a god when I believed that the respective god was truly evil and did not deserve to continue to live. While in the Juubi form it was more about a desire to feast on the gods, a burning hunger to consume them all. My own memories are still incomplete of the time as the Juubi, so exactly how it came into being is a mystery for the moment."

"What do you mean incomplete? Why are they like that?"

"Like I said before becoming the Juubi I was a god but something happened and I ended up becoming the Juubi losing quite a bit of my power, then Rikudo Sennin arouse and defeated the Juubi and split it apart into nine other beings know commonly as the biju in doing so he splintered me into many pieces and I lost even more of myself and my power. Heck I think a part of the Juubi is locked in the moon, something that's not going to be easy to get out."

"So if there are other biju does that mean that there are other people like me?"

"Yes, the first Hokage used his bloodline to subdue most of my other pieces and gave them out to the other villages who in turn locked them into humans to use as weapons, they were and still are diluted fools." He told him in a tone laced with anger. "The Shodai Hokage wanted to achieve some sort of peace this way", Yukimura shook his head, "the poor diluted fool, he and his clansmen ignored Rikudo Sennin's teachings and still claimed to desire peace, even with the small memories I have of that man I know this."

Naruto looked thoughtful for a few moments before she spoke up again. "So the other biju are parts of you? Will you take them back?"

"Yes, on both accounts, they are parts of me, different aspects of my original personality, though as the Kyuubi I managed to retain the most from my original form, the others also have important parts with them, parts that I need to become whole again and attain true freedom. I still am in many ways an incomplete being while those other parts of me are out there. If you're worried about the other then don't worry, the bare minimum I would need from them is my divine essence, once that is gone the mass of chakra would still remain and the hosts would still be live, I can take my time until I either find a way to unlock their seal and take the chakra without killing them or wait until someone tries to move the chakra and create a new jinjuriki, heck I can even wait and gather the chakra should they die a normal death of old age."

"Well alright, but what are you going to do when you have all the pieces back?"

"I'll leave this world of course and start traveling again, I do want to visit some places again and see new ones as well."

"What do you mean that you'll leave this world?"

"Just that Naruto, this world isn't the only one in this dimension, other first ones left this world to explore the rest of the universe, heck some like Prometheus went to bring life to another planet in this solar system, though I don't know how much success he had, and it will take a while for me to have the power to check on that."

"What's a planet? No wait, what's a solar system?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Uh…. Well damn, this is going to take a while, I better give you a shorter version and explain more later on when we start our lessons. The Solar System is made up of all the planets that orbit our Sun. In addition to planets, the Solar System also consists of moons, comets, asteroids, minor planets, and dust and gas. To better show you," Yukimura brought both arms together and in between them a white energy appeared, in it a blue orb with a few brown patches upon it quickly formed.

"What is that?" Naruto asked looking amazed.

"Our planet, the place we are currently on, and here," Yukimura said shifting the orb and focusing on a particular patch closely getting near it, "is the continent we are on, I don't know if the boundaries of Fire Country are the same but this" he said yet again focusing on a small part "is where Konoha is located."

Naruto just looked at the image dumbfounded. "It looks so small, I thought that Konoha was huge."

Yukimura ruffled Naruto's hair playfully. "Yes it's what happens, you often think unknowingly in a small box, but once a new idea enters your head that box begins to shake and soon enough you can tear it down. Once a mind expands it's almost impossible for it to revert to its old state. Now for the real mind blowing thing." The image quickly zoomed out and showed the blue orb at first but then it continued to zoom out until is showed other orbs some a bit smaller and a few larger ones, what made Naruto's eyes bulge was the last thing he show, a large orange orb that dwarfed all of the other orbs before it and looked like it could encompass all of them without any difficulty.

"What is that?" he asked looking amazed.

"The sun."

"It's huge!"

"Yep, the others small shapes are planets, though unfortunately they don't have any life on them, well perhaps one of them could have if Prometheus succeeded in his endeavor."

Naruto just stared dumbfounded at the image in front of him. "We look so small!" Sayaka hugged him again.

"True while we may be small, it also shows us how unique life is Naruto-kun, out of all the chances you were born, because of this you have an obligation to yourself to live. Now" Sayaka looked towards Yukimura "if you're done with showing him things that could have waited a bit, I do believe we have a certain activity to perform."

"Oh right." He chuckled slightly as he rubbed the back of his head with his free hand and dispersed the image in his other hand.

"Here take my hand Naruto-kun." Naruto slowly took Sayaka's hand who gave him a warm smile.

"Alright then let's go." Yukimura quickly made his way to the door and opened it revealing that it lead right into a snow storm.

"Wha, how did you do that?"

"It's my realm so it's not that hard, come one let's go."

After Naruto stepped through the door all of his senses seemed to be assaulted by a cold sensation, when he looked around himself he realized that he was on a mountain of sorts during a snow storm, when he looked behind him he saw that the door had disappeared and that the there was no path back down, as he looked closer he couldn't see far up on the mountain they where. Yukimura let go of his right hand placed it on his back while Sayaka held on to his left hand.

"There's only forward now Naruto, don't worry it's not far from the top, just a few minutes of walking." Naruto could still hear him even with the winds blowing.

As the three walked forward, Naruto brought his right hand to his face lowering it from time to time to look forward, the wind seemed so sharp he could swear he heard a howl in the distance, it felt as if hundreds of needles were being shoved into his face, while trying to cut through his cloths to reach his bones, at least now he was happy he had all the cloths on him.

The slowly made their way upward as the wind and snow seemed to batter them time and time again as if trying to force them back and prove their dominance over them, Naruto felt Yukimura's hand gently nudge him from behind while Sayaka held firmly onto his left arm, the both of them reassuring him that hey were there for him. Inch by inch he seemed to move forward slowly, ever so slowly but he was making progress, he felt good as if he was winning some sort of battle as he slowly pushed forward with everything against him.

Breathing had long since become more difficult, his face felt like it was on fire now, as he slowly moved forward he could hear the snow screech under his feet, he could barely see in front as the snow rushed towards him. He kept looking downward as he advanced, after a few more moments he realized that the wind seemed to have died down to a degree, he closed his eyes and pushed forward hoping that he was near the top, when he felt Yukimura squeeze his right shoulder and opened his eyes. As he opened his eyes he could he that they were out of the snow storm when he looked behind him he could see white clouds while in front the mountain top lay waiting for them.

"A few more steps now Naruto."

After a walking a few more steps upward they finally managed to reach the mountain top, that as Naruto could see was a clear plateau, the ground was mired by black rocks, the air seemed so clean he realized, the wind seemed to have stopped as well, gently Sayaka placed a hand under his chin and raised his head high once more, and Naruto was at the loss of words of the breathtaking view in front of him. In front of him the landscape was mired with white silvery clouds that glided almost imperceptibly against the sky that was of a beautiful clear blue, the sun could be seen in the distance glistening like a small golden jewel, it felt as if he was on top of the world.

"Breathtaking isn't it Naruto-kun?"

Naruto nodded still looking at the view in front of him. He slowly turned to his right and could see Yukimura lay down in a meditative position.

"I rather like this place to meditate it helps to clear the mind and put's things in perspective."

"It really looks amazing, it's like we're on top of the world."

"Heh, I did make this place rather big, it's similar to an old mountain I climbed at one time, still beautiful as heck, but with less creatures trying to eat you."

"There were creatures trying to eat you?"

"A few, a wolf here and there, an ice troll, a weresheap."

He blinked at the last one. "What are…"

Sayaka let annoyance drip in her tone. "I think someone should remember why we're up here in the first place."

"Ano is this what you wanted us to do?"

Yukimura shook his head smilling at him. "Nope, this is part of it, figured if we're going to do that we might as well go big, insanely big in this case."

"We can do it in a more normal way next time Naruto-kun."

"So what are we going to do then?"

Yukimura smiled and pointed behind Naruto. A light wooden frame body supported by two smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners.

"What is that?"

"Oh my dear sweet boy" Yukimura shook his head, "that is a sleigh, and it is awesome in many ways."

"What's it for?"

"Having fun" Yukimura told Naruto with a smile on his face. Yukimura slowly pushed the sleigh near the edge of the mountain top and got on it towards it rear end with one leg on either side of it. "Well come one get on." Sayaka quickly got in front him and made a small hand motioning Naruto to sit in front of her.

"Is it safe?" he asked looking at the sleigh.

"Of course it is, it's my realm I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you here. Well come on get on."

Naruto hesitantly got on the sleigh and held onto its sides with his arms, Sayaka placed her arms around his body to hold him. "So what are we going to do now?"

"Now the fun part begins."

Naruto slowly felt the sleigh begin to move as Yukimura pushed it forward using his legs, he quickly tightened his grip on the sleigh as he noticed that they were slowly nearing the side of the mountain. "Why are we nearing the side of the mountain." He stuttered.

Sayaka tightened her grip on him. "Because we're going over it Naruto-kun."

"Oh….. WHAT?" He yelled.

Yukimura chuckled. "Yep, go big or go broke, now hold on tight."

Naruto looked on as the sleigh slowly got closer to edge of the mountain before finally going over it, what followed was the most insane thing he had ever done, he screamed his head off the whole way down, as they rushed down the mountain faster and faster, the cold air brushing against him.

"How about we add some obstacles?"

"You are not drifting with the sleigh!" Sayaka warned him.

Yukimura smiled. "It'll be fun."

Naruto eyes bulged once more as trees started to appear in front of them sprouting from the ground up. "Trees! trees!" He yelled.

"Don't worry I see them." Yukimura told him and quickly maneuvered the sleigh to right barely missing a tree, before quickly doing the same thing again to avoid another tree, the next few moments saw them quickly moving to the right and to the left to avoid the trees before finally clearing them.

"One last obstacle before clear sailing"

As Naruto looked forward he could see a small bit of the snow slowly rise up, he was worried they crash into it, his surprise was far greater when the sleigh actually used it as a launch pad, for a few moments he could feel his body rising from the sleigh as they where in the air, his hands attempting to dig into the sleigh, he let out a relived breath when he felt Sayaka's firm hands around his body that pulled him closer to her, and then just as quickly as he was up he came crashing back down as the sleigh hit the ground again and continued it trip downhill once more. It still took them a while to reach to bottom, time that seemed to fly by as the scenery became a white blur and the wind seemed to throw itself against them, until finally they slowed down and reached the end of their trip. As Naruto realized they had finally stopped, he could hear his own ragged breath and heart beating, but one thought was on his mind above all else. "Let's do it again!" He said in a low whisper.

"Heh, see he liked it" the next thing Yukimura knew was Sayaka's fist colliding with his head. "Owww."

"It should have been a simple sleigh ride down, not maneuvering through trees, you know things don't work that way in the world."

"It was still fun. Besides wait until he tries the other stuff, now then let's go back up and that a few more times, right Naruto?"

"Heck ya datebayo!" Naruto screamed standing on the sleigh in an exuberant happy tone.

A moment later both Yukimura and Sayaka burst out laughing. Yukimura calmed himself down and whent over to Naruto patting him on the head. "Remember this Naruto whatever you do, enjoy it to the fullest, that is the secret of life."

* * *

><p>Sayaka gently closed the door to Naruto's room as she exited it.<p>

"Well?"

"He's asleep, considering what we did today I'm not too surprised."

"He had fun that's what important, things went as expected."

Sayaka nodded her head, "Considering his life it isn't that big of a surprise, honestly we could have been pure evil and chances are he would have accepted our offer, he's so easy to manipulate."

"It's mostly likely that's what the Hokage desired, Naruto's still a small child and can be easily influenced, let the world seem against him and appear as the small light Naruto can cling to."

"He really doesn't compare to the master, I feel I'm dishonoring him just by mentioning the two in the same sentence, much less comparing the two."

"True, there really isn't a comparison between the two."

"Mostly likely Naruto will still have questions about the realm and the other gods, eventually we are going to have to tell him about his parents, especially about his mother being your former jailor and the threat he may face in the future with that masked man."

"We still don't if he's still alive, perhaps the Yondaime did something useful once in his life and killed him."

Sayaka snorted. "Considering your luck I doubt that, wounded yes, dead no. So what should each of us teach him?"

"Hmm, we'll need the look over the knowledge I currently still have once more, training him in the use of chakra will be difficult."

"We could try to reverse engineer some of the other attacks perhaps we may achieve some sort of success."

"True, perhaps we could use some of the magic training from the other worlds and adapt it to use for chakra as well, the elemental training should be rather useful if done right, magic molding was damn awesome in its own way."

"Indeed, will you attempt to pierce the veil to find a world and learn jutsus from it?"

"A good idea, but that's still hit and miss, I'll need a lot more time to prepare for it."

"Then trying to see variations of the future?"

"Yes, that's our best bet it will take less time than to pierce the veil."

"I'm still worried about the chance of other gods awakening as well, it would set our plans back quite a lot, not taking into account if they would need to be dealt with in a permanent fashion."

"Ah, yes, with my incomplete memories, we still don't know who's left of the gods, at the very least the first born should be gone from this world, the threats remaining should be more manageable."

"Indeed, but perhaps you should claim a domain of the gods."

Yukimura gave her a puzzled look before his eyes widened. "I see, yes I suppose that could work, if push comes to shove I could transform myself into something similar to that god and claim his identity, it would attract less attention then that of a brand new god suddenly appearing or attracting the other's attention of a possible recent ascended being, and old one returning while still something would be far less interesting then a brand new power appearing on the scene."

"Exactly" she told him nodding her head, "the question remains who though, that god must be truly dead and he must not have any creatures that may yet recognize him."

"Hmm", he seemed thoughtful for a moment "Inari, could be a good choice"

She rolled her eyes before replying in a dry tone. "As a fox? How terribly original."

He shrugged. "Meh, as the Juubi I devoured that god not long before the meeting with the sage, I know for certain that no one knows about our battle and that no other creatures of Inari are left alive, perhaps I could add a bit to the domain once I claim it, that Inari absorbed the essence of other gods from the Juubi's rampage could help that claim, we could use the excuse that after absorbing the essence Inari had gone through a processes of great change that required hibernation."

"I suppose its better than nothing, the least attention the Kyuubi draws the better, but would you actually heed the people's calls when they came? Could you help their fields grow rich with rice?"

"That may be a bit more tricky true, but hmm," he smiled, "creating fox summons and having Naruto sign the fox contract would be hilarious in many ways."

"Creating more life and ones that could give you away? I think not."

"Uh, it's just an idea."

"Not a well thought out one."

"Well, the second one would if we played our cards right would bring the kid some extra money."

"Oh?" She asked in a curious tone. "Do tell."

"Simple, we have him publish some books from the other worlds, I remember reading quite a few of them, we'll have to edit some of them a bit but it could help to build him a nice large nest egg."

Sayaka looked wide eyed at him. "That's, that's actually a very good idea."

"Damn straight, I could try to use the small opening we have and go find a publisher myself and get the ball rolling but all things considered especially considering the state of the opening I believe it would be best that we wait a bit more."

"Indeed, did you discover anything about the dark taint that his core posses?"

"No," he shook his head "I tried but it's tied to him at a fundamental level, we'll need to monitor the situation for the foreseeable future, the only theory I have is that something happened at the sealing with the Shinigami doing something to him."

"So it could be tied to the runes on the cage."

"Exactly, those runes aren't from this continent originally, how the Yondaime got them and was able to use them is a mystery that needs solving."

"So the possibility of a god having awakened and interfering with the sealing grows, to have the Kyuubi on the leash would be a tempting prize, worth trying to fight the Shinigami over."

"True, but then that raises its own questions, like why only seal half of the Kyuubi? Why not try to have that god aid in the battle and since he already interfered why not seal the whole Kyuubi, then the Yondaime could live to tell the tale. Even after looking through the kid's memories I haven't found someone that looks even remotely tied to the supernatural."

"Half of the Kyuubi is better then none of it, and not making it's presence know just yet, staying in the shadows could be more important to that player, not to mention that having the Yondaime as a loyal warrior would be a boon to any god."

"So would the Yondaime slowly spreading that god's religion in Konoha, building a good strong base to help gain control over this continent."

"Indeed, just questions and theories for now with few answers, so then the usual spar?"

"After you my lady."

"Still such a gentlemen."

* * *

><p>When Naruto first awoke he kept his eyes closed, the dream last night had been so good he wanted to remember it a bit more, he was the jinjuriki of the Kyuubi, who had become a god again and created the nice lady, and had been human at one point, they had been kind to him and offered to train him, they even took him sledding. As Naruto stirred in his head, he stopped when he noticed his bed seemed unusually soft, the usual smell of his room wasn't present either, he was too afraid to open his eyes, he simply moved around in his bed, it did feel a lot softer then his, he usually slept on the floor.<p>

Naruto gritted his teeth and slowly opened his eyes, only to remain mouth open at the sight in front of him, it was the same room from his dream, _it wasn't a dream!, _everything had been real he realized. Now Naruto was ecstatic, he through the blanket's of himself, and saw that he was wearing the pajamas the nice lady had helped him change into last night, a beige shirt with three buttons near his neck and black pajama pants.

He spotted the chair that Sayaka sat upon yesterday a bit farther away with some cloths on it, a pair of dark blue short pants and a red T-shirt with a spiral design on it and a pair of simple black slippers under the chair. _They must have left the clothes for me to wear_. He heard a small knock on the door, "Yes?" He asked in a quiet tone of voice.

Sayaka entered the room dressed in a beige kimono with flower patterns on it. "It's good that you are awake, we can have breakfast now."

"You're actually real." He told her in an awed tone.

"Of course, did you think it was all just a dream?"

Naruto nodded.

Sayaka slowly made her way towards him and kneeled down and hugged him tightly. "We are very real Naruto-kun, never doubt that, alright?"

"Hai" he answered her teary eyed, no one had shown him so much affection before.

"Now I left some clothes for you yesterday after I tucked you in, you can wear them or choose some of your own from the wardrobe."

"I have my own clothes?"

"Yes, we didn't know exactly what would fit your taste so we created quite a few clothes." Sayaka led Naruto to the wardrobe and opened it up, once he saw what was inside Naruto's jaw all but hit the floor, there were dozens of cloths, shirts, T-shirts, pants, short pants, sweaters all of different colors, red, blue, orange, light green, even some pink ones, and all with models on them, he hadn't seen so many cloths even at the orphanage.

"You can wear whatever you want Naruto-kun, after you change please join us for breakfast." And with that Sayaka left the room.

Naruto after looking through them all he decided to wear what Sayaka had left on the chair yesterday. Once dressed he made his way towards the door, hesitating in opening it for a moment, he remembered how it had led to a mountain yesterday, he took a large breath and then opened the door. To his joy it lead into a hallway were the light was a dimmed blue, he could see a few other closed doors, the floor was made of hardwood, the walls were of a beige color, the ceiling looked to have small crystals upon them in a few places that emitted the light.

He stepped out in the hallway and made his ways to the right where he could see a golden light coming from an opened door and could hear noises. Once he stepped inside the kitchen he saw Yukimura, who was wearing dark pants, a dark shirt with the shoulder a beige color, the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and Sayaka sitting at a large table with various jars on it eating pancakes, the orphanage caretakers had rarely made such food and even more rarely had he ever eaten something like that, even more rare was the fact that they had fruit juice, something he had only seen others drink.

"Have a seat and eat Naruto, we weren't certain if you had eaten something like this before."

"Only twice, they actually gave me one a long time ago and I managed to get one that the caretakers wanted to throw away because it wasn't as good as the others."

A frown graced both Yukimura and Sayaka's faces. "Well that isn't the case here Naruto-kun so eat up."

"Hai", he quickly began eating with great gusto trying the contents of various jars. The taste seemed incredible to him, each jar brought an explosion of taste with it. "Ano what are in these?" He asked pointing at the different jars.

"Well, some have apple jam, strawberry and plum jam, honey, chocolate and even some apricot jam."

"What's jam?"

"Ugh… that's wow, let's skip over that for the moment."

"Ano, why am I not that hungry it feels weird, I'm usually a lot more hungry."

"Well again you don't need to eat while here but seeing as how you will need to return one day it's best we encourage your desire to eat to ensure you stick with the behavior."

"Why don't I need to eat while here?"

"Because you aren't here with your physical body that needs the nourishment, the soul can survive just fine without it, but some gods prefer to have food in their afterlife, it depends on what afterlife a person ends up in."

"Afterlife?"

"Remember how I told you that some gods need mortal to worship them to gain power?"

"Hai"

"Well, some of those gods also have afterlives where mortals souls that worshiped them end up in, some places have food there, though once a soul leaves the body it doesn't actually need to eat food. For example the goddess Kalahira had the Golden Planes, a good description for that place is best summoned up in prayer for her, guide this one to where the traveler never tires, the lover never leaves, the hungry never starve."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"It wasn't, sadly she and the rest of her fellow pantheon gods were killed during the wars of the gods."

"The wars of the gods?" Naruto asked pouring himself some juice.

"Yes, once the gods discovered that bit about mortals giving them more power they began to fight each other, some chose direct battle with each other, while in time realizing that a direct battle would leave the winner exposed and vulnerable to an attack by others the gods, they began to create various creatures and use mortals as their own play things to fight their battles, only striking at the other gods when they were sufficiently weakened. Though getting there required a few wars, in which many people died and the landscape changed greatly."

"That sounds mean, using people like that for power."

"It is what it is, and in hindsight it was better than a direct battle between gods as those were far more brutal and destructive. I think the Juubi came into existence during one of those god wars, though the memories are still incomplete and foggy in some cases."

"The Juubi killed a lot of gods?"

"Yes, gods, demigods, ascended beings, spirits, demons, they all fell before the Juubi."

"Demons exist? Wait, spirits exist as well? And what about the other things?"

"Right, well, um where to start."

"Allow me" Sayaka told Yukimura "Naruto-kun listen, at the top of hierarchy are the second born gods, the first born gods should all be gone from this world, the second born gods are split between the major and minor gods, they are followed by the ascendant beings, who are either creatures or mortals who have gained enough power to stand close to the gods, in some cases even manage to fight against them on even grounds and put fear into their hearts, generally speaking Ascension occurs after a person has found and absorbed the essence left behind by other gods and creatures made by the gods and took it into themselves, or there were also cases where they experienced an amount of power from a gods realm and absorbed it. Another explanation would be that an ascendant being is anybody who cannot die from natural causes, old age, and sickness, they can be killed by other means and have access to magic. Though some ascendants are weaker then demigods some are stronger as well and it is why they are ranked higher."

"Demigods are a divine or supernatural being, they were more of an experiment by the second gods. The term has been used in various ways at different times and can refer to a figure who has attained divine status after death, usually they are granted this power by a god, some minor deities are closer in power to demigods rather than gods, there is also the case of a mortal who is the offspring of a god and a human. To our knowledge all the demigods should be dead." Sayaka paused for a moment to clear her throat and let Naruto absorb what she had just told him.

"Demons were created by one of the first born gods when the second born gods began to gain more power and followers, it was a way to curtail their growing arrogance. Sacrificing himself that god gave the demons the potential to reach the power of the second born gods, all of the demons have a bit of that gods essence and thus a path to power is open to them, but gaining access to that power is difficult. The strongest of the demons were the demon lords, they were the ones that would lead the other demons to war, the strongest of the demon lords was Urgash, he was the only one to become the ruler of all demons, he created a realm for the demons, similar to how the gods have a realm of their own, and had actually managed to permanently kill a god of war who foolhardily challenged him to a battle. After that act the demon wars began where the gods and their pawns waged war with the demon to exterminate them, most of the demons and the strongest of their kind died in the last demon war, what little remained behind were hunted down by human hunter groups dedicated to exterminating them, very few should be left behind, if any at all, mostly likely what remains are scattered and hidden in various parts of the world slowly rotting away, some likely either sleeping or sealed away."

"Sleeping?"

"Yes the last war of the gods forced many beings into a deep slumber to recover, others hid themselves away out of fear of that cataclysmic war."

"Was it that bad?"

"Yes, it was the last war of the gods that ended the age of the gods, exactly what happened is still a mystery to us, but after it the Juubi was the only true power left behind, and it too was eventually defeated by Rikudo Sennin."

"So why didn't the others come out then?"

"Like I said before Naruto-kun, the few gods that remained were wounded and needed time to lick their wounds, some likely needed time to reform. While the other beings couldn't awaken so soon after entering their slumber, a few creatures did attempt to take advantage of the situation, but when you have someone like Rikudo Sennin who defeated the Juubi, those attempts are destined to failure, that time period also saw the appearance and rise of the shinobi, add the new biju running around and the creatures soon found themselves out matched. Demons are a bit more difficult to classify as some are so weak that a lowly untrained human can kill them while others need far power to be killed."

"Like Urgash!"

"Exactly Naruto-kun. The second born gods usually looked down on the demons, who to gain more power must draw it out from inside themselves, and can not absorb the essence of the other gods, they can however make it into weapons to use it against the gods, and can use some of the artifacts the gods create, a few managed to corrupt them, the demons gain much less power from mortal worshippers when compared to the gods, more like small drops compared to a full glass that the gods gain."

"Now another class would be the spirits, this is also quite a diverse group as a few are man made, while others were created by the gods."

"Why would they create them?"

"Some created to serve them others to terrorize humans and have the humans turn to them for protection from such things. Manipulation was a common thing for the gods hence why I said they are assholes. Though spirits come in different shapes and forms, some good, some evil, one example is that of a river spirit that protects its specific river. While they may have the power to stand against some demons none can actually fight against the gods and hope to win. The last class would be that of the creatures, heralds and servants of the gods, like I said before some gods created creatures to serve them and fight for them, likewise they vary greatly in power, though very few ever reach the power of a demigod, heralds are chosen mortals by the gods who receive some power from a god in some form or another. Some gods preferred to change the mortals that worshipped them after death into creatures then quickly send them into battle, they have some of their worshippers trained to become warriors for them once they die."

"A special case here are the avatars, they are arguably the largest summons to date, with nearly all the titans matching the biju in height and can match or in some cases out match a tailed beast in strength. Because of their immense size, avatars are highly resilient to nearly all physical attacks. The avatars may be slow and heavy, but their massive strength is capable of destroying hordes of shinobi within seconds. They are not very physically beautiful in any way, but vanity and other worldly qualms do not concern them. The avatars were created ages ago during the war of the gods, and were their trump cards, they required the gods to gave up a large part of their power while creating them, unlike other creatures the avatars had little will and mind of their own, they were created for war and didn't need much of that anyway. Again thankfully all of them should be dead, their own power made them reach somewhere around demigod power, exceeding it even a few times. The problem was that they weren't very smart and did have their own glaring weaknesses, tales of heroes slaying such beasts still exist around the world, mortals do not know the truth about why does battles were fought anymore believing that the heroes fought to defeat the creatures to save them when in truth they simply fought because their gods waged war with each other."

He rubbed his head."It all sounds so…"

"Messed up?" Yukimura supplied smiling.

"Yes!"

Sayaka nodded her head. "It is, it's all a giant cluster fuck."

"Uh shouldn't you watch your language" Yukimura asked only to receive a small smack on the head. "Owww, why?"

"You should have stopped me from saying it."

Yukimura rubbed his head. "Ugh, you would have hit me even then."

"Never the less."

"What does fuck mean?" Naruto asked with a confused look on his face.

"It's a bad word Naruto-kun and Yukimura will explain it more later."

"Um, yeah, sure I will."

"In any case, we believe that the problem began when the world was still young and the energy that created the world was still present in some quantity, we believe that it was this that gave humans the power to create the second born gods and other creatures, in time that energy seems to have disappeared and that's the reason why humans haven't been able to create other gods recently."

"Honestly I think sometimes that the Juubi was the great equalizer, it didn't create alliances, it didn't care about what the god's domain was, or if it was a spirit, a demigod or demon, the Juubi devoured them all, perhaps it appeared to help end the conflict of the gods."

"So it was a good creature?"

"More like a force of nature, it didn't care about good or evil, it just was, with one move it destroyed mountains and created fields in their place while with another it destroyed cities leaving only ruins."

"Well let's just finish eating, so we can get your training started."

* * *

><p>After Naruto had finished eating Sayaka had shown him where the bathroom was so he could wash up and afterwards the three made their way out of the house, when he exited the house Naruto could see a small garden, the road leading to the front door was paved and had three trees on each side who's branches seemed to unite above the peoples heads to provide shadows, he could fell a soft gentle breeze caress his face.<p>

A small bench could be found on the right side with a large tree behind it providing cover from the sun; it was a bit farther from the trees with a path leading to it. Around all kinds of flowers could be found, it looked as if every color was present there, they were artfully arranged and complemented each other to create an ocean of color, Naruto simply stared at how beautiful everything was.

Sayaka placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder and he looked at her away from the flowers, she gently ruffled his hair.

"If you want we can teach you how to garden as well"

Naruto gave her a small head nod and took her hand as they started to move forward, as they walked down the path that led away from the house he could saw that they were soon walking through a forest, soon enough the three were in a large green clearing with a few trees and a lake nearby; their large house could still be seen in the distance. Yukimura turned to him and asked. "Well then ready to begin Naruto?"

"Hai!"

Yukimura and Sayaka gave him a warm smile. "Good, now then first thing's first, we need to go over what we will train in respectively, the list is rather large."

"It is?"

"Yes, like we said before, you will unfortunately have to become a shinobi and that will some extra training and skills."

"Aren't shinobi heroes?" He asked curiously, the old man with the funny hat had always told him and the other orphans that shinobi were heroes.

"Hardly, they may have started that way, but have long since fallen from grace reduced to lowly hired mercenaries, doing whatever they can for money. From what I remember of Rikudo Sennin, the mortal had desired that teaching people about chakra would lead to peace and stability, it would give people the power to fight against demons and spirits without needing to bend the knee to other creatures. Unfortunately somewhere along the way they fell from grace, and started fighting amongst themselves, spilling their own blood, perhaps it was the fact that they only had each other to fight against as the other creatures went into hiding or were exterminated by them or perhaps it was simple human nature."

"True heroism Naruto, is a very different thing, first, it's performed in service to others in need, whether that's a person, group, or community or in defense of certain ideals. Second, it's engaged in voluntarily, even in military contexts, as heroism remains an act that goes beyond something required by military duty. Third, a heroic act is one performed with recognition of possible risks and costs, be they to one's physical health or personal reputation, in which the actor is willing to accept anticipated sacrifice. Finally, it is performed without external gain anticipated at the time of the act. Shinobi perform mission for money, be they to hunt down bandits, to guard a certain group, assassinate someone, or deliver packages, at the end of the line they know that they will get paid, a mission shouldn't be about money it should be about leaving some good behind."

"Shinobi call themselves heroes and heroes have standards, those standards call certain methods of fighting good and others evil, acting as if there were some nobility to the battlefield, when in truth they bathe in the darkness they call evil. Such illusions, perpetrated by so called heroes throughout history, have led countless young men and women to their bloody deaths, all for the sake of this valor and glory. The people call the Yondaime Hokage a hero for what he did in the war, but he is a war hero not a true hero in my opinion, what did he do? He killed hundreds with his technique, hundreds of parents lost their children, hundreds of children cried for their parents to return, only to fall on death ears.

The only consolation is that those people would have killed other people creating their own casualties, it was good that he killed them because our side did not lose any people and the enemie's lost many, the shinobi believed. Understand this Naruto unconsciously we all have a standard by which we measure other people, and if we examine closely we find that this standard is a very simple one, and is this: we admire them, we envy them, for great qualities we ourselves lack. Hero worship consists in just that. Our heroes are the people who do things which we recognize, with regret, and sometimes with a secret shame, that we cannot do. We find not much in ourselves to admire, people always privately want to be like somebody else. If everybody was satisfied with himself, there would be no heroes." Yukimura shook his head.

"Conviction is what drives a true hero, conviction, in my opinion, is true power. Conviction means a strong persuasion or belief; with that any hero has the strength to do what they do everyday. When everyone else is ready to fold conviction is what helps them beat the odds. This was proven time and time again as they went against this forced evolution. The people of Konoha may claim that their shinobi have to will of fire burning brightly in them, but my question is if they truly do or is it just the indoctrination that they are submitted to as young children? People call the kages heroes, ridiculous, heroes are made by the paths they choose and not the powers they are graced with. My own heroes are the dreamers, those men and women who tried to make the world a better place than when they found it, whether in small ways or great ones. Some succeeded, some failed, most had mixed results... but it is the effort that's heroic, as I see it. Win or lose, I admire those who fight the good fight."

"So what should I do if I become a shinobi? If I don't have another path to walk on?"

"If you don't have another path to walk on then you create one Naruto-kun, if it doesn't exist yet then make it yourself, do not follow the same path others have walked so many times, leave the beaten and old path behind you and walk forward on a different path one made by you."

"Can I actually do that?"

"Of course you can Naruto-kun."

"Never doubt yourself, once you put your mind to something you have no idea of what you can achieve. Two of the most important things that we will train are your mind and will Naruto, your will is also be tied to your conviction, once we're done with you'll have a keen mind and an iron will."

With a swift movement of his hand Yukimura made several tree stumps appear from the ground with several board sets upon each of the tree stumps. "Each of these boards has a game that we will play Naruto, Shogi, Chu Shogi, Makruk, Xiangqi, Boku and Reversi, all excellent games to help develop your mind, it will be your deadliest weapon. Remember this Naruto direct action is not always the best way. It is a far greater victory to make another see through your eyes than to close theirs forever."

"An iron will means to be resolute and sometime even stubborn and obstinate Naruto-kun, it will help you persevere in the face of adversity, this way when you encounter life's hardships and even should it rain fire down upon you will be able to move forward and not brake when others fall to pieces, you will grit your teeth and keep going just a bit more to accomplish your goal, because in the end that's how winning is done."

"Can I really be like that?"

"You are no more powerful than you make yourself Naruto. If you see yourself as having a weakness, you are simply increasing the problem. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Standing in combat against another with the confidence begat of one who is convinced of their immortality is in itself a fierce weapon. How might a man stand against a god? What mortal cannot be unnerved by the snarling power of an immortal? Do not underestimate the power of your attitude or sell yourself short. Never allow yourself to be pushed, let there be no doubt in your enemy's mind that they are up against a superior force and that they will be defeated. The greatest of training can falter when your opponent fears you. Make them fear you Naruto."

Naruto nodded his head.

"One thing that will be vital to your survival will be your ability to deceive and lie to people."

"You want me to lie to people? Why?"

"A shinobi will have to deal with lies and deceit in his life Naruto, and if you slip and let people know about me what do you think will happen?"

"They'd hurt me?" He asked in a frightened tone.

"Yes, more so than before, you must keep my and Sayaka's existence a secret Naruto, and that will require learning how to deceive and lie to people. If you get too strong too fast that will also attract people's attention so you will need to hide your abilities for a time."

"How long?"

"Mostly likely you will only be able to reveal bits and pieces and only use everything you have when you are certain no one else is nearby."

"The thing we can train you right away is ambidexterity, it means being able to use both hands equally as well, people are usually right or left handed, one hand is dominant, and if you injure it you would in trouble and have difficulties using the other arm, so we will teach you will to use both equally as well."

"That sounds cool."

"Add a bit of speech to better haggle with merchants, some diplomacy and teaching you to be more persuasive, how to have keen eye, how to sneak, have a muffled movement, pickpocket, and how to properly lock pick."

Sayaka rolled her eyes. "You still enjoy that a bit too much."

"It's nice, and there's a pleasure in sneaking in a place picking the locks and robbing it blind."

Naruto sratched his head. "You want me to steal from people?"

"Shinobi will be required to do so Naruto, and it will be more about testing yourself, think of it as helping people test their security measures."

He nodded. "I guess that doesn't sound too bad."

"Add learning how to meditate, lead people and gain political pull." Noticing Naruto's look he continued. "In the future you will sadly need to learn how to gain political pull to help make your life a bit easier."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"You shouldn't need to do so in the first place," Yukimura told Naruto in a depressed tone, before letting out a sigh "personally I've always liked alchemy and herbalism, with magic present in this world it will be more interesting to use it. Alchemy is the art of brewing potions and poisons by combining ingredients with matching effects. Initially, you don't know the effects of ingredients and must discover them by eating ingredients, reading recipes, or brewing them into potions. Herbalism is use of plants for medicinal purposes, and the study of such use. Plants have been the basis for medical treatments through much of human history."

Sayaka stepped up next Naruto. "There are skills on how to fight while blind, governing estates, blacksmithing, logistics to help with path finding and urban tracking, my own preference are tactics and the art of war though."

"What's that?"

"The art of war which is the art of winning conflict is to have a state of perpetual surprise. To be invisible through secrecy which makes you impervious to attack. To rig the board for your victory through careful planning which ensures constant victory. To never be predictable or measurably by your enemies through deception which makes you more an idea, a phantom, an unstoppable force than just a man. Those who studied the art of war know that the size of an army is only part of how a battle is won. Other elements, like weather, and land, play a major part of it, allowing even a smaller army to defeat one that is much larger than their own. Many however still often believe that it all comes down to who can mass a larger army faster, a false belief, the shinobi started as much smaller in number and only later grew in size, however even now they are much smaller in size then the regular army. Terrain, where you fight usually determines if you die or not thus picking a battlefield is as important as having soldiers. A great deal of elements can affect the terrain and play a big part in how they affect your troops."

"For example a forest can allow you to set up ambushes, you can hide your troops in them, use them as cover to protect your troops however they would make larger-units, such as siege weapons move slower. A narrow path or a cliff could be a path through a cliff, valley, a dense forest, bridges it would limit the passage way, and allow only a few units to engage one another at time, if can get the high ground while the enemy crosses through a narrow valley victory will almost certainly be yours. Uneven terrain, hills, rough landscape and swamps make the movement of the army much slower were as open fields and flat land allow units to move faster. Thus as you can see, certain army composition would work better on certain battlefields. Another thing to consider is the army size, speed and movement. A larger army tends to move slower than a small often this allows Guerilla-like hit-and-retreat tactic to be workable against large armies, especially on a favorable terrain."

"Such as forests?"

"Exactly Naruto-kun." She gave him a proud smile.

"But leadership attributes could help negate some of that, a commander could have units already prepared to deal with any attacks. Something that is vital to consider is the weather, rain, fog, sunshine, cloudy, all which have an effect on the field, and thus in battle. Consider attack an army when it is raining or there is fog, a fog would decrease visibility while the rain would do something similar but would also change the terrain making it muddy, and thus decrease the armies speed. Last would be the day and night cycle, hit them when they least expect it."

"While there are other skills we can teach you, some are more related to certain jobs, like that of carpenter, distiller, fur trapper, cotton planter , sugar planter and hunter."

"So if I learn all of these would I gain power?"

"No Naruto you would gain strength."

"How is that any different?"

"Strength is different than power. Power is ability to affect things but it can be used by you without being innately yours. Strength on the other hand is the discipline and cultivation of your own character and self. A sword is power but the speed and skill you use to take it from your enemy is strength. Strength is yours. A part of you. Strength of will, intelligence, and skill. Strength of character such as determination or diligence. A sword is a power. It must be picked up and set down to benefit you. The skill that you wield it with is a strength. It is you. Strength is personal potency and perfection. After you are totally destroyed your power is gone but your strength remains. Powers rise and fall but strength cannot be taken from you."

"Strength sounds much better."

"It is Naruto-kun."

"Well then, let's start with some games then shall we?"

* * *

><p>Tea Country<p>

The fire crackled as Hiroki Takahashi stirred it with an iron pike, picking up a log he placed it in the fireplace, the house had a nice choosy felling to it, the fire created shadows that danced on the walls of the room. Hiroki drank a bit of warm milk from his mug as he watched the fire, autumn had finally arrived and soon winter would follow. This had been a good year for the people, the harvest plentiful; the fields only needed a bit of more work before they would be ready for winter.

Hiroki's strong arms ached from the work he had done today but he didn't mind, it was good honest work, he looked over to his room, his wife Kuse and their children, little sweet Tobe and his son Fujiwara had gone to sleep early and he would join them in a short while, his thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the front door. He got up and picked a wooden club he had made with his father when bandits had been spotted roaming through the land years ago; many of his neighbors had done the same, even if they never had that kind of trouble he and the others kept one around.

Hiroki went to the door keeping the club behind him, it could be a neighbor but he would rather not risk it, he let a breath and opened the door. The sight was not what he expected, there in front of him were two men both wearing almost entirely white clothing, they were both wearing white haoris that stretched past their knees with a golden outline around the edges, a black sash around their waists, white gloves and black boots.

The two men each carried a bag on their right side and were carrying a thick white covered book in their hands. The first man was a blonde of average size, fair complexion, his hair was spiky in the back and he had two bangs framing his face and wore grey rimmed glasses, he was smiling. The second man was much taller then the blond man, he had tan skin, a military cut hairstyle and very small white eyes, he appeared to have some sort of block like grey boots that covered most of his legs, on his left shoulder was a metal shoulder guard, he wore a stoic expression.

"Good to meet you sir! The blond man began in a passionate tone. "We wanted to ask you if you've heard the good news?"

Hiroki looked at the two, he wasn't sure what to say. "Good news?"

"Oh yes, it is about the one true god who suffers for you dear sir!"

Hiroki scratched his head, he had heard about some gods but he had never heard about one that suffered for him. "Well I've never heard about him."

"That's alright sir, do you have a few moments to talk about him?"

"Well", Hiroki looked to the inside of his home.

"Oh, we don't need to enter your home sir!" The man looked offended at the suggestion. "Out here is perfectly fine all we ask are for a few moments of your time to talk about the one true god and his good book." The blond man handed Hiroki the thick white covered book.

Hiroki was still puzzled, they didn't appear to be thieves, they were polite, passionate perhaps about their beliefs. "I guess I can spare a few moments." Hiroki stepped out of his home closing the door to it.

"That's all we ask my dear sir."

That night Hiroki would spend reading the thick white covered book given to him, soon he would become brother Hiroki, fully embracing his new religion and god.

* * *

><p>Review away<p>

Constructive criticism or pointing out a possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.

Check out the poll on my page and the forum where the other polls are.

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><p>A.N :<p>

- I don't think I did that great of a job describing the feeling of reaching a mountain top and the view from there.

- Everyone should go sledding when young, it's freaking awesome.

- The explanation about the gods and spirits is basically that its all a big cluster fuck, humans creating their own gods is an interesting idea that I liked, if you manage to read about the different pantheons from different cultures you can tell just what kind of messed up gods humans thought existed.

- The last bit of about heroism I actually got of the internet while searching for a more expanded definition of what heroism is and I personally agree with it.

- A lot of quotes from other people in this chapter.

- The part that sounds like that of a Sith is just that, I got it from a website long ago, sadly I don't remember the exact site, still that bit is from there, and its awesome.

- Got a few bits from the Laws of war in this chapter.

- Well the good news is that I already have 3 pages written out and another 2 sketched out for the next chapter that got cut from here, I was planning on having him wake up here but I decided against it in the end


	3. Chapter 3 : Dream's End

**I do not own Naruto, If I did some abilities would have remained unique.**

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – normal thoughts  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><strong><em>Listen<em>**** – biju, higher being thoughts**

**Chapter 3 : Dream's End**

The next few months seemed to fly for Naruto, his life followed a simple schedule that integrated his training into it, when he woke up he would do a few stretching exercises followed by washing and reading something, after that he would have breakfast with Yukimura and Sayaka were Yukimura would show him how to cook various kinds of food. Then he would practice how to properly read and write and would exercise it every day, Sayaka had been the one to teach him these things as she claimed Yukimura's hand writing was so terrible, that it all but resembled chicken scratches and that Yukimura could probably communicate with chickens using his handwriting.

He would later play various games to help develop his mind with both Yukimura and Sayaka, he hadn't manage to win a single match but had been making steps towards not losing too badly, both Yukimura and Sayaka had encouraged him to try different strategies and analyze their matches for future reference, he had noticed that Yukimura favored more long term thinking and avoided battles unless necessary, he would set his pieces to strike at the right moment, it made every move he made seem random at first but later they would came together in a domino effect that would utterly crush him.

Sayaka appeared to be more straightforward in her strategy and would often use a vicious attack, it took him a while to realize that while he was busy keeping his eyes on the assault, Sayaka would move her pieces from behind and deliver a blow he hadn't seen coming. When he asked about this Sayaka explained that while she preferred to execute a well planned attack, she would also have other plans running in the back, the main assault while it did have a chance to defeat the enemy and it did have support for it, wasn't the only one, often it was used as a distraction to move the other pieces and prepare to strike from another side when least expected, if the first attacked succeeded then she wouldn't need to use the other plans, if it didn't or it seemed to drag on to long she would enact the other plans. This was meant to teach him that there were more ways to win a battle and often you needed to look at things from a different angle to truly see things for what they were.

Around noon they would have lunch and Yukimura would again show him how to cook different kinds of food, Yukimura would often keep it simple for him, so he could have an easier time to make them himself later on, desert would often consist of different fresh fruits. After lunch he would have a period of rest, both Yukimura and Sayaka had told him that he needed to rest as he was still growing and until he was older he should sleep a few hours in the afternoon.

When he awoke he would practice meditating, this to his joy, this was done in various parts of the house, in the flower garden, the forest, by the lake and even a brief return to the mountain top. Once done he would practice lying and trying to deceive them, the two then would tell him about the small mistakes he made and how to correct them, they would often show him examples amongst the two of them, on how to read body language and how to fake it as well, the fact that he was still a small child would give him an advantage as he could wear a mask of innocence to help him, small children would often lie to cover their mistakes hoping not to get caught but it was easy to tell when they were doing so, no one would ever expect to be outwitted by a small child, people's pride wouldn't allow them to accept such a possibility, often blinding them.

Towards the evening, Yukimura would teach him about gardening, both for flowers and food, later Yukimura would take him to the forest and teach him about the various fruits and plants that could be found there. Sayaka would then teach him about hunting, how to spot animal tracks, how to set traps and about pathfinding, unaware to him he was slowly developing a keen eye for details.

Later they would have dinner, again he had never dreamt of some of the foods Yukimura could make, he had recently eaten something called rendang, that to him was the most delicious, juicy, tender and tasty meat that he had ever eaten. Yukimura would ask him if he could identify the specific taste of each dish he would eat, this one had tasted like an explosion of flavors that he couldn't even begin to identify. Yukimura had later told him that it had fine pieces of beef cooked in a mixture of coconut milk, lemongrass, chilies, garlic, shallots, turmeric leaves and a few more ingredients for hours on end, but the result was just incredible and well worth it to him.

After dinner he would rest and read a bit more, the activities that followed were some of the most fun for him, Sayaka and Yukimura would take him nature walking through some of the lands around the house, other times they would play card games, do jigsaw puzzles, play board games, something he didn't even know existed, tea tasting, and stargazing, when Yukimura would tell him about the stars, and he would imagine what existed out amongst them.

Finally before he went to sleep either or Yukimura or Sayaka would read him a bedtime story, and to his annoyance, they would stop reading right when it was more exciting and ask him to think on how things would continue, the next night they would continue with the story after he told them what he thought would happen.

During all of the activities he would alternate between using only his right of left hand, whether eating, writing or playing games, the goal was to become ambidextrous, and this way he was slowly making progress. Only a few times had Naruto been left alone to use what he had learned, he didn't know that everything would change drastically soon enough.

When Naruto woke up he could feel that something was different, he didn't know what it was but he felt it in his gut, he briefly smelled something different in the house, it was faint, _some sort of baked sweet?_ Naruto noticed that he had been left a small breakfast on his desk, two sandwiches, a glass of juice and an orange, he shrugged, it had happened before, when both Yukimura and Sayaka had left him alone because they needed to deal with something and to help him learn to live by himself for his eventual return to Konoha.

After eating he went through his usual morning routine and after finishing it left for the kitchen to see if they had left him any lunch or if had to make one himself, to his surprise the kitchen door was locked, something that brought back painful memories of his life at the orphanage, however another door was unlocked in the distance one that hadn't been before. Naruto took in a deep breath and realised that the new smell was coming from that room, he made his way there carefully unsure of what to expect, when he entered the room he got a shock at what he saw.

"Surprise!" Both Yukimura and Sayaka shouted, both of the two had small colorful cone-shaped paper hats on their heads, light green with white dots for Yukimura and yellow with white for Sayaka. A giant banner with the words Happy Birthday Naruto was hanged in the room, various colored balloons were hanged through out it as well. Naruto froze looking onward incredulously.

Sayaka slowly approached him. "Are you alright Naruto-kun?"

"I don't know what this is." He motioned to the birthday sign and decorations.

"It's a birthday party Naruto-kun." Sayaka told him with a smile on her face.

Naruto scratched his head and looked down at the floor. "I've only seen a few celebrating it at the orphanage, but I never took part in them."

Sayaka patted him on the head. "Naruto do you know how old you are?"

"Four." He looked at her puzzled.

"And how do you know that?" Sayaka asked.

"One of the caretakers would just tell me that another year passed and that I'm older now."

"I see" she said through gritted teeth, "Well Naruto-kun a birthday is a day that comes once a year when a person celebrates the anniversary of their birth, sometimes a person's birthday is celebrated by a party where a specially made cake is presented."

Yukimura made hand signs towards a cake on the table.

"But I get older even if I don't have a party right?" he asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Well yes."

"So why is it important?" the puzzled look never left his face.

Sayaka looked troubled unsure of how to answer. "Well you just celebrate the anniversary of your birth, it means that you are happy to be alive, friends and acquaintances usually give you gifts. For us, we usually celebrated it with a few friends, we don't expect any presents, myself and Yukimura just enjoyed going out and having a nice meal together or with friends, nothing really different than what we did at other times during the year."

"Well some of those parties ended up being a bit more wild." Yukimura pointed out.

Naruto still looked puzzled. "Why should I get gifts?"

"That is just the birthday tradition. People give gifts because they are happy that a person is born. It is a way of showing appreciation for someone."

Naruto scratched his chin in a thoughtful manner. "So if someone doesn't give me a gift they don't appreciation me?"

Sayaka waved her hands at him. "No, sometimes a person can't afford to get you a gift, but it doesn't mean that they don't appreciation or care about you."

"So why give gifts then?"

Yukimura could all but hear Sayaka frustration. _Kids are curious at that age, heck he usually asks questions about everything this shouldn't be too surprising. _

Sayaka cleared her throat. "We give gifts to people to show that we care and appreciate them, often it's more about how expensive that item is, that somehow. However you don't need to give people expensive gifts rather give them meaningful ones. It can be something hand made, a great home-cooked meal, a meal at a nice restaurant, walking somewhere without a plan or giving someone your full attention and time. It would be much better to give someone an experience rather than another material item. If we give people experiences, it will lead to stronger relationships and a more meaningful life. Do you understand Naruto-kun?"

Naruto nodded. "I think so, but when should I give them?"

"The best time to give a gift is anytime; give it for absolutely no reason at all. The worst time to give a gift is on someone's birthday or on some holiday, there is an expectation to give gifts at these times, and it's a hard expectation to live up to it. The best real reason to give a gift is to say, "I care about you" or "I love you" or "You are important to me" or "Thank you for being in my life." Our actions need to be in agreement with our feelings, and giving a gift today shows that every day is a special occasion, it shows that the people in your life are just as important to you today as they are on any holiday. We wanted for you to have at least one birthday party to show that we care."

"Thank you." A teary eyed Naruto told them looking down to conceal his tears.

"There's no need for that Naruto-kun." Sayaka knelt down and hugged him.

Yukimura chucked a bit. "Heck Naruto when you get older and have a girlfriend you may get a very special surprise for your birthday, that's not material and is a mind blowing experience" Yukimura's smirked "for good and bad."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked while he wiped his tears.

"Just some grown up thoughts that someone should have kept to himself." Sayaka placed her hands on Naruto's ears. "I remember you rather enjoyed a certain birthday."

Yukimura looked at her with a deadpan expression. "It ended with hip dislocation and back problems for quite a while."

"And yet you had a shit eating grin on your face for months on end."

Yukimura began to giggle. "Heh, heh, yeah." His face took a dreamy look. "That was great, injuries be damned."

Sayaka took her hands off Naruto's ears and took his hand. "How about we eat some cake Naruto-kun?"

"Hai!" Naruto followed Sayaka who aided him on getting on a chair near the table, the cake as Naruto could see was round with white whip cream and used chocolate whip cream to write a small dedication to him writing happy birthday Naruto, the sides of the cake had a floral arrangement and on top between the letters it was studded with five lit candles, each of a different color. "So what do I do now?"

"Well first." Sayaka made a hand sign and Naruto could hear music playing, Sayaka went next to Yukimura and both began to sing happy birthday to you for several minutes. After they finished Sayaka went next to Naruto and took a seat near him. "Usually the person being honored is given the first piece of cake. But first the celebrated person will usually make a silent wish and attempt to blow out the candles in one breath; if successful, a tradition holds that the wish will be granted but the wish must be kept secret or it won't come true."

Naruto breathed in then closing his eyes and making his wish and then blew as hard as he could, when he opened his eyes he saw that he was able to blow out all the candles.

"Congratulations!" They both told him with smiles on their faces.

"Now onto the eating!" Yukimura cut the cake and gave the first slice to Naruto, then one for Sayaka and finally for himself.

Naruto used his spoon and stopped for a moment reminding himself to use manners before he used his spoon to eat his slice of cake, as soon as his tongue touched the cake his toungue he was assaulted with new tastes, the cake had an elastic texture and was soaked with flavored syrup or some sort of liqueur, had butter cream frosting, and he could taste a fruit mixed in as well, _apricot!, _he realized, he liked the fruit and was sad when he found out that it wasn't native to the Elemental Nations and that once he returned to Konoha he wouldn't be able to eat it anymore. "Can I have another slice?"

Sayaka gave him a small look. "How do you say it?"

"Can I please have another slice of cake"

Sayaka nodded and continued in a harsher tone of voice. "Good, yes you may, but just one more, you can't be too full for what we have planned for later."

Naruto pouted before asking. "Will it be like sleading?"

Sayaka had a thoughtful look on her face for a moment. "It will definitely be something new Naruto-kun."

"I can't wait!" Naruto stated in an enthusiastic tone of voice. Sayaka gently ruffled his hair and he began to eat with new gusto to finish quickly.

"Naruto-kun don't rush and chew your food properly." Sayaka reprimanded him.

"Hai"

Neither of the two noticed the slight look of sadness that crossed Yukimura's face. The sun was shining and its rays entered through the kitchen windows catching both Sayaka and Naruto, it seemed to accentuate her pale skin and give it a porcelain look, her scarlet hair seemed to be on fire, both her and Naruto were eating and smiling. _I can almost see this happening back home, perhaps, perhaps if I had remained in my world after she returned we could have had something like this, a few little knuckleheads of our own and our own house. I hope she had something like this with someone._ A smile began to spread on Yukimura's face at that thought.

"Are you alright?" Sayaka asked giving him a concerned look.

"Yes, I am, don't worry." He responded in a normal tone, his face now with a more serene expression.

"But you haven't eaten your cake!" Naruto told him pointing at his plate.

Yukimura laughed and scratched the back of his head. "My mistake, I just got lost in my own thoughts, now it's time to finish this though so we can head out to our destination."

"Are you sure you're fine?" Naruto asked.

"My my doesn't someone have a keen eye?" he laughed gently. "Yes don't worry about it, finish up eating then go and put on a pair of short pants, you woun't need any shoes, oh and get another pair of short pants and a T-shirt for back up."

Naruto gave him a puzzled look. "Ok." As soon as Naruto finished he took his plate to the sink inteding on washing it until Sayaka stopped him.

"Don't worry about that today Naruto-kun, go get your cloths."

"Hai"

"So what was that about?" She asked looking at Yukimura.

"Nothing, don't worry about it, I just remembered that some things are worth sacrificing for."

Sayaka raised an eyebrow. "Oh and what brought this on, do tell."

"It's ... oh look at the time Naruto's ready to go." In an instant, Yukimura dissapeared from the kitchen leaving Sayaka alone in it.

"Cute, but I know where you live." A moment later Sayaka disapeared from the kitchen as well.

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><p>As soon as Naruto got to his room he changed his pants for a pair of orange short pants, took out a dark green colored pair and a grey T-shirt, he waited for a moment before he realised that neither had told him wheter to return to the kitchen or not, he shrugged and made his way towards the door.<p>

When Naruto opened the door light seemed to have assaulted him, before his eyes became accustomed to the light, he blinked and looked on to the sight in front of him. The door now lead to a beach, a bit in the distance he could see both Yukimura and Sayaka under neath a beach umbrella.

Naruto took a deep breath and stepped through the door, his feet soon touched the sand and he could feel it under his bare feet, he wiggled his fingers a bit in the sand feeling it's texture, at first it felt like sugar to him, he touched it with his fingers it felt soft and cool, the sun ray's softly caressed his cheeks, he could hear the waves crashing onto the shore and could smell the salt from the ocean. He walked over to where Yukimura and Sayaka were waiting for him under a beach umbrealla. When he got closer he saw that Sayaka was wearing a two piece black bikini and Yakamura wore a pair of dark blue short pants with white lines making cubes on them and a part of their sides white as well. A picnic basket and a few towels were under the umbrella as well.

"What do you think Naruto?" Yukimura asked both hands where on his own sides.

"Is this really the beach?" Naruto asked looking at the ocean waves.

"It's as real as it can be here." Yukimura responded looking at the ocean.

"It looks awesome!" Naruto yelled pumping his fist in the air.

"Heh" Yukimura ruffled his hair. "That it does."

Naruto placed his clothes next to the towels and then ran towards the water but as soon as he placed a foot in the water he stopped when he saw something coming out of the water. The small creature was grey, had several small legs, it was covered with a thick exoskeleton and had a single pair of claws, one larger than the other. Naruto brought a finger towards it and the creature snapped its large claw at him. In the blink of an eye Naruto ran away from the water and hid behind Sayaka's legs, both Sayaka and Yukimura laughed, Naruto poked his head out from behind them and asked. "What is that thing?"

"That is a crab, the good kind, not like some of the other kind you can get. Ugh" Yukimura felt the air leaving his lungs as Sayaka elbowed him in the stomach.

"There are bad crabs?" Naruto asked curiously.

"He" Sayaka pointed at Yukimura "he will explain it later when you are older Naruto-kun."

"Yeah" Yukimura struggled for breath, "there are, don't worry we'll talk about it when I give you the talk, about the birds and the bees and the blow up dolls. Ughh" Yukimura felt the air leaving his lungs again and fell down as Sayaka elbowed him in the stomach once more.

"Let's go into the water Naruto-kun, Sayaka began with a warm smile on her face that usually spelt trouble for someone."Yukimura want's to think a bit about talking of certain inappropriate subjects. Don't you?"

Yukimura managed a small "Yeah." between breaths.

Naruto never imagined the water ocean could feel as warm and amazing as it did, he spent the next few hours playing in the water, Sayaka and Yukimura taught him how to swim, Sayaka would go out in the distance and ask him to swim towards her while Yukimura stayed behind him to help him in case he had trouble. After that the three of them built sand castles together and when Yukimura fell asleep he and Sayaka buried him in the sand.

Something that Naruto would never forget was when Sayaka took him surfing, words could not describe the euphoria that surfing provided to him, it made him feel alive, and yet words still couldn't describe the full absolutely magical and romantic feeling of riding the wave, it was a breathless experience, going up and down on the surface of the water and feeling_like he was right in the middle of nature, feeling the air, hearing the break of the wave as water sprayed around him,_ just an unlimited power under his feet and to be in harmony with the ocean; it was just the most beautiful thing he every did, he doubted we would ever forget his first wave ride.

He had tried to learn to surf by himself but hadn't managed to succeed at it and after a few failed attempts Yukimura took him out of the water and taught him how to fly a kite so he could rest and get his mind of his failed attempts. Naruto and Yukimura sitting near the water watching Sayaka ride a wave and waving them. "She's really good at it"

"Yes, she is, I think it's something about **basic sense of balance and the core strength of someone familiar with planks.**" Yukimura had a smile on his face.

Naruto nodded. "It's still awesome."

"Yep" Yukimura ruffled Naruto's hair. "Listen I know I told you this before but it's worth repeating," Naruto looked at him, "whatever you do, enjoy it to the fullest, that's the secret of life."

"Hai!"

Yukimura smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair again. "I'll go prepare the food, just relax alright."

Naruto nodded and stood listening to the gentle sound of the waves, he found them soothing, he didn't know when he fell asleep, Sayaka would later wake him up when it was time to eat. That night after he and Sayaka went for a trip around the beach when they returned Yukimura had prepared a bonfire and the two took turns telling stories, Yukimura told him old tales about the stars while showing him the constellations on the night sky. Naruto was sitting near Yukimura with a blanket wrapped around him.

"the Sun recalls Earth and her clever and foolish men and kind and magical women, and then it returns to us. Or perhaps it is only — as some say — that it remembers the taste of the bait."

"Well, that was an interesting story." Sayaka commented as she through another log into the fire.

"I try." Both noticed how Naruto had already fallen asleep. "You know it would have been a more interesting day if we showed him some of the things that lurked in the ocean."

"Oh?" Sayaka asked curiously. "You still think it would have been a good idea to go with that?"

Yukimura nodded. "Well yeah, I can still picture it, in the distance whales jumping out of the ocean, then dolphins a bit closer to the shore, then both jumping out and sharks jumping in between them, add some crabs with monocles, top hats and canes dancing near the shore." Yukimura's face took a dreamy look. "It would have been legendary."

Sayaka simply looked at him with a what did you smoke expression on her face, she gently rubbed her forehead. "And you think that wouldn't have terrified him?"

Yukimura scoffed. "No of course not if I wanted to terrify him I would have shown him a sharktopus, those things are messed up."

Sayaka sighed. "Perhaps another time you could do so, and give him nightmare fuel for years to come. Now though we should take him back home."

"Yeah." Yukimura gently took Naruto into his arms and lifted him up, they both stopped after walking a few feet from the fire, their eyes took on a small barely discernable yellow glow that faded quickly. "It appears some of our projects are showing results."

Sayaka nodded. "Indeed, will you devote your full attention to it?"

"Yes." Yukimura handed Naruto to Sayaka and disapeared the next instant.

Sayaka walked a few more steps before a door appeared, she opened it and stepped through arriving in Naruto's room, where she placed him on the bed and tucked him in. When she was about to leave she heard Naruto whisper in a sleepy tone of voice. "I wish I never leave this place."

Sayka made her way to Naruot and kissed him on the forehead. _I'm sorry Naruto-kun but some things must end. _When Sayaka stepped out of the room in the blue dimmed hallway she saw Yukimura waiting for her with a strange look on his face. "Did you learn anything interesting?"

Yukimura nodded and raised his hands towards her. "It was just a brief glimpse but, have a look."

Sayaka touched his arms her eyes flashed yellow for a moment, her face took a worried look "I see, this is most concerning."

"True, one thing appears certain" his voice took a serious tone "war is coming to the Elemental Nations. We will need to increase his training, I know we planned on starting on the physical a bit later but with this new development it's best we start now."

Sayaka's face now looked made of steel. "I take it we will not interfere to much with the war then?"

"No" Yukimura shook his head "with this we have a baseline to work with, and war presents its own" Yukimura looked for the appropriate words "interesting oppourtunities."

Sayaka scowled "I remember a time when such a notion would have horrified you."

Yukimura furrowed his eyebrows. "And I remember a time when I didn't kill heroes to have their nations join me."

"You know what I meant." Sayaka replied.

"I know it's..." Yukimura's shoulders sagged.

Sayaka began in a conciliatory tone and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Your power is not what it once was, and you are afraid that if you interfere too much things will spiral out of control."

Yukimura didn't say anything.

"You know you can lean on me." Sayaka told him in a warm tone looking him in the eye.

Yukimura smiled. "Isn't that like leaning on myself?"

"Semantics." Sayaka waved one of her hands in front of him.

Yukimura laughed a bit. "I needed that, thank you."

Sayaka gave a warm smile. "Any time, now I take it we will greatly accelerate things on the other fronts as well."

"Yes, we should discuss that and go over his training one more time."

"Agreed."

Both disappeared in from the hallway.

* * *

><p>The next day at breakfast Naruto noticed how things seemed tense for some reason, he hoped it was just a test for him to pick up on things and not something serious. "Ano can I ask something?"<p>

"Of course, Naruto-kun."

"Have I been here a long time? I can't don't even know the month I came here."

Yukimura had a small thoughtful look on his face as if calculating something. "Not long, your birthday was near when you came here. Roughly two weeks will have passed outside when you leave this place."

"Do I have to leave this place?" Naruto asked sadly.

"Yes, we said it before but staying too long in a god's realm can be harmful to you if you're still alive."

"So if I'm not alive I could stay?" he asked in a slightly optimistic tone.

"Don't you dare think of such a thing!" Sayaka yelled and slammed her hands on the table.

"Naruto even if you die, your soul would go to a different place, I don't have an afterlife nor do I plan on creating one. With that seal on you there are chances that you would end up in a afterlife of the shinigami's choosing or if you're lucky you'd go to the great unknown."

"It's just... this place is much better that the place where I came from."

Sayaka shook Naruto once before she hugged him tightly and looked him directly in the eyes. "Listen to me it doesn't matter how shit things may look you just have to keep on living and keep on fighting eventually things will change! Promise me you woun't think about such things in the future!"

"I promise." Naruto said through tears. Sayaka hugged him once more and the two stayed that way for several minutes, Naruto felt Yukimura's hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently. After a few minutes the two broke the hug but Sayaka kept him close to her and began to wipe his tears, afterwards he asked. "What's the great unknown?"

Yukimura who had taken a seat at the table answered. "That's what the original afterlife is called and both humans and gods ended up there and still do if they don't belong to one of the religions whos god is still alive and that have their own afterlifes."

"What's it like?" he asked rubbing his eyes.

Yukimura shrugged his shoulder. "No one knows, people haven't returned from there, we call it the great unknown because of that."

"Oh."

"Now onto less depressing things, we've decided to teach a few more things, some are the cool kind you wanted."

"Really?" He asked in a hopeful tone.

"Yes" Yukimura nodded "now go change into some more flexible clothes and then head over to the dojo, it's the eighth door on your left after you leave your room."

"Allright!" Naruto quickly left the room.

The room was quiet for a few moments before Yukimura spoke. "That was more depressing than I expected."

"He has a better life here what did you expect?" Sayaka countered.

Yukimura sighed. "Yes I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised" his face took a dark look "I remember the Tower and having similar thoughts at one point."

Sayaka scowled "Somethings are better left buried in the past, now we should go as well."

* * *

><p>The wooden dojo Naruto found himself in he had a number of unusual design features, including glass-doored walls on two sides that opened onto gardens, deep skylights and a specially sprung wooden floor, the lustrous wood used in the dojo was fragrant and darkly. Naruto sat cross-legged on the floor with Sayaka and Yukimura in front of him wearing white karate gi with black belts.<p>

"Now Naruto what we will begin to teach you here are both martial arts and sword fighting"

"Can I use two swords?" Naruto asked hurriedly.

Both Yukimura and Sayaka raised an eyebrow. Yukimura asked. "That seems oddly specific, any reason?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Um no, it would just be cool, and useful, wouldn't two swords be better than one?"

Sayaka rubbed her chin. "Actually that can work, we already planned to teach you how to handle two swords as well, but if you're sure want to learn to use two swords full time you must know that it will be a long and hard road."

"I'm sure of it." Naruto told them in a firm tone.

Sayaka nodded and had a proud smile on her face. "Well then a small history lesson then", she cleared her throat "since bladed weapons were invented, people have tried to use more than just one in combat. Simple math made this innovation for them. If one sword was good, two must be better."

Naruto nodded and smiled. "Unfortunately, this is not always the case." Naruto's face dropped. "Very often, a sword is not easy to use in tandem with another. Many require more concentration, dexterity, or strength to use two swords." Naruto's face fell some more.

"Worse yet, the fighting forms often do not support the use of ambidextrous fighting; the idea has been scoffed at as inefficient or wasteful considering the small percentage of the population capable of using both hands equally."

Naruto's face fell even more, before he saw Sayaka wink at him and smile. "So rose Jar'Kai, to fill the needs of those people who wished to use two swords at the same time effectively." Naruto slowly began to smile as well and Sayaka continued. "Jar'Kai translates into 'Two Swords', but the more recent iterations of the form makes use of more than just swords. Specialists and masters of the form will often make strides to modify the techniques to accommodate other tools of violence. Known Jar'Kai techniques and maneuvers include the "Rising Whirlwind", which consisted of a duelist swinging his blades about his body, creating a "whirlwind" of deadly attacks" Naruto had an awed look on his face "and the "Twin Strike", in which both blades were swung in an arc towards the opponent in a deadly power attack." Now Naruto was just giddy.

"A third trait worthy of note is that Jar'Kai practitioners were often overly reliant on their weapons and bladework, leaving their abilities in other areas undeveloped." His smile dropped a bit "However, this weakness was hardly absolute, as some duelists possessed the physical strength to block power attacks with only one arm." And then the smile returned in full force. "Despite the advantages offered, Jar'Kai is not without its drawbacks. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, he had an idea of what could follow "Firstly, as both hands held individual swords, two-handed blows were impossible, and the duelist was unable to put all his or her weight behind blocks, weakening the defensive capabilities. Thusly, an enemy with a single hilt could simply assault a Jar'Kai practitioner's defense with brute force, battering away until the dual-blade duelist's guard gave way."

Naruto continued to furrow his eyebrows in thoughtful manner before he spoke. "So it has its ups and downs, just like everything else and will require serious work, maybe a bit more than a regular one handed sword. But I've already started training to become ambidextrous so I've already take the first step on the path."

Sayaka nodded gave him a proud smile. "Yes, exactly, however we do have a small something that will aid you."

Naruto perked up and smiled. "Is it a sword? Or two? Are they cool?"

Sayaka laughed a bit and waved a hand, _it's good that he still has this innocence_ "no, nothing like that" Naruto pouted "in many ways it's even better."

"Really what is it?"

"It's a fighting style"

Naruto thought about her words for a moment "It is tied to fighting with two swords"

Sayaka gave him another small smile and head node "The Niman Form, also known as The Moderation Form, and the diplomat's form. This fighting style is a hybrid martial art created by effectively combining elements of different sword forms into a single, generalized form. Niman balances out between the various specializations of other forms, covering many of the basic moves, but focusing on overall moderation. This resulted in a fighting style that lacks a significant advantage" Naruto furrowed his eyebrows at hearing this relaxed when he heard the next part, deciding to listen until she finished her explanation "but also lacking any serious drawbacks, and thereby not leaving adherents as exposed as some of the more aggressive or specialized forms. Overall, Niman has a fairly relaxed focus on blade work, designed as a simple, easily mastered fighting form for fighters who preferred to devote most of their time to study and diplomacy. Despite this, it can be absolutely deadly in the hands of a skilled practitioner, also as Niman is developed from two pre-existing martial arts fighting forms that both emphasized the use of dual-blades, it provided a firm foundation for duelists looking to study into such practices. Ultimately, Niman's success in combat is dependent on a practitioner's intuition and creativity in combat, rather than the rote responses common to other forms."

Naruto thought about she said for a moment longer before he burst out "It sounds great! You want me to learn this form because it could also allow me to learn other things as well seeing as how it's not as intensive."

Both Sayaka and Yukimura looked surprised but pleased and Yukimura answered him. "That….is correct, oh my, hasn't someone has gotten a bit wiser." Naruto rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly.

Sayaka continued. "We will also be adding Sokan to the mix for maximum efficiency."

"What is that?" Naruto asked looking at her.

Sayaka began in a teacher like manner. "Sokan is a principle of sword fighting, rather than a true form, the teaching revolves around using the environment itself to gain a tactical advantage in combat. Sokan involves maneuvering so that swift strokes of the sword can be aimed towards the opponent's vital areas, using quick tumbles, jumps, and movements. Combatants make use of large amounts of terrain, trying to maneuver their opponents into vulnerable areas during the course of battles that involve Sokan techniques. This technique allows for great speed and mobility and leaves no openings in one's defense."

"It sounds awesome!"

"Indeed, tiying those two together will greatly aid you with your sword skill."

Yukimura stepped took a step forward. "Now for the close unarmed martial arts, you'll have two primary styles mixed with a few others."

"Two? Really?"

"Yes, now the first is the K'tara style, this is basically the maximization of damage to the opponent while minimizing the amount of noise created by an attack. Thus, much of the K'tara martial art is focused on short, quick motions, perfect for shinobi who are supposed to fight in the shadows. People trained in the use of the K'tara arts can disarm an opponent and render them unconscious in a few swift motions, thereby attracting as little attention as possible. The most skilled of practitioners are taught an advanced form known as the Dha'Tracyn whereby they could maximize their firing efficiency up to a staggering 120%, but considering that there are no weapons like that here we will change a few things to try and make it compatible with kunais and shurikens. The mastery of K'tara and the sub-form Dha'Tracyn can make an individual into a highly efficient assassin. Augmented with chakra there should be almost no limits to what can be achieved."

Naruto had a dreamy look on his face. "It sounds so cool."

"That it does, now the next one has a longer description so bare with it" Yukimura cleared his throat "The second one is the Echani martial art, an unarmed combat discipline developed by the Echani. The moves of the art are fluent and the practitioner focuses on using the motion and kinetic energy of the attacker and redirecting the force of the attack rather than opposing it head-on. This requires very little physical strength as the practitioner guides the attacker's momentum using entering and turning movements. The techniques of Echani Martial Art are completed with various throws or joint locks. Echani Martial Art can be categorized under the general umbrella of grappling arts."

"Tradition dictated that combatants usually make no use of armor, weapons or other techniques, as the art is focused on mastering the body itself as a weapon. Echani culture held the belief that combat was the only means to truly know someone, a pure form of expression where words were swept away, allowing for action to reveal the true nature of the people involved. Their duels were rituals, and it was important to follow etiquette, for that would allow them to read each others' stance and fight accordingly. In this manner, battle was seen as a form of communication similar to art. Exposing emotions in combat, however, made the duel a personal thing; engaging in repeated sessions was a courtship of sorts, in which one's favors were won through superior fighting prowess. Although it was not forbidden to teach Echani Martial Art to non-Echani it was almost unheard of and very frowned upon."

"It sounds interesting, I think" Naruto struggled to find his words "you want me to learn it because I'm still young and can't do more physical exercises yet."

Both Yukimura and Sayaka gave him proud smiles. "Exactly, teaching you this style is ideal as you are young and can not yet learn the more physically demanding styles, add the fact that while here your body isn't getting any activity it makes this style all the more useful."

Seeing the look on Naruto's face Yukimura asked. Is there something else you want to say?

"It's about the other parts related to the style, I'm guessing you want me to know the style's history and not just the fighting part." Naruto finished with a thoughtful look on his face.

Sayaka was the one who answered "That is correct and holds true for other styles as well, it's important to understand where your style came from, the foundation of it, the philosophy and concept of why it was developed in the first place."

Naruto gave her an understanding nod and Yukimura continued.

"Now the Echani martial art is based on three tiers of ascension and each tier is based on a foundation, a mental, spiritual and philosophical skill that the practitioner must master before moving on to the next tier. Training in the Echani martial art is mental as well as physical, emphasizing the ability to relax the mind and body even under the stress of dangerous situations. This is necessary to enable the practitioner to perform the bold enter-and-blend movements that underlie Echani Martial Art techniques, wherein an attack is met with confidence and directness."

"As a martial art concerned not only with fighting proficiency but also with the betterment of daily life, this mental aspect is of key importance to practitioners and common Echani alike. Echani children, around the age of 5, begin by learning the foundations of the first tier, Honor. They are taught the importance of honor both in and out of combat. Honor was essential to the life of an Echani. Once the children showed advanced proficiency of the first foundation, they would be elevated to the first tier, Pupil. It is during this stage that they would learn the base forms of Echani Art, or Echani martial arts, as well as the foundation of the second tier, Loyalty. Loyalty was key to the Echani people, it was what kept them together, no matter what the hardship. Loyalty to their elders, to their friends, to their family, and most importantly to their people, although some progressed quicker than others, the normal age youths elevated to the second tier was 16."

Naruto looked surprised at hearing the last part. "What but that's really old isn't it?"

"Perhaps but with some changes to it a few steps can be eliminated, you aren't an Echani and we won't make into one thus a few parts will be cut and considering the time difference here you can advance more quickly."

"What were they like?" Naruto asked curiously.

Yukimura gave him a bitter smile. "They were a great people when I left, much of their culture and history is tied to their martial arts, their mentality can be seen in their martial arts as well. Some of their values reminded me of clan from this world." He cleared his throat "The second tier, Warrior, is the most difficult. Many Echani would fail to surpass the tier. During this tier, youths would begin a rigorous training schedule, as well as beginning to learn the advanced forms of Echani Art. They would also begin to learn the foundation of the third and final tier, Justice. Justice was what an Echani strived for. Crime was rare in Echani Society, mainly due to this foundation. The Echani strived for Justice, believing it was what kept peace and serenity throughout their people. It was this that gave way to their seemingly gentle nature."

"The average age, of an Echani, when he passed on to the third tier was 30. The third and last tier is that of the Artist. If one passed to the third tier, he could begin a more specialized training, as well as learning the Hidden Arts of Echani Art. Now although tradition dictated that Echani Martial Arts practitioners made no use weapons, as the art was focused on mastering the body itself as a weapon, there were some in Echani Society that were allowed to use weapons, namely the Fire dancers. The Echani Fire dancers were martial artists who combined Echani Martial Art techniques with exotic weapons; the usage of the two together almost seemed like a dance. However, not every Echani could become a Fire dancer, those chosen and trained since wielding the burning Ritual Brand and performing the Dance of Flames required great agility and acrobatic skills. The Fire dancers had their own tires as well, namely Ember, Disciple and Fire Lord. As stated, the Echani Fire dancers made use of Ritual Brands, double-bladed swords with burning or heated blades used in ritual combat. When used, the Fire dancers would manipulate the weapons in complex weaving patterns that were so graceful they were more similar to dance than to combat. This caused severe burn wounds to enemies struck by the weapon.

Naruto looked curious before he asked. "So I could learn it that and use it with my two swords right."

"It depends on your agility and acrobatic skill; we can try to include some of the basic training of the style in with your general sword training to see if it can work."

"The last two styles are something we want to mix into your first two styles, the first being the **Verdanaian** strikes that are by and large reactionary, they involve intercepting an opponent's strikes, the practitioner will draw the opponent in, and let the kinetic energy from their opponent's attacks 'flow through' to their own fist, effectively turning their own attack against them. As a defensive art, this art is taught to mobilize from any stance, standing or sitting."

"So I don't need to be very strong to use this one either and it can be worked into almost everything?"

"Exactly Naruto-kun, now other one is called Teräs Käsi, meaning 'Steel Hand', it is an unarmed martial art that was invented ages ago, the art is brutal, effective, and adaptive, the art is brutally efficient, teaching its students how to step inside attacks to avoid damage while delivering viciously effective strikes themselves. The flexibility and strength required of Teräs Käsi permits attacks that would otherwise be unreasonable, an example is the famed Death Weave, a series of blows that stuns, then paralyzes, incapacitates, and finally ends the target's life. Open hand, closed fist, elbow smashes, knees, kicks, head butts and body checks, Teräs Käsi uses all of the body as a weapon, even if in unorthodox ways." Naruto giggled like a school girl at hearing that. "The art relies heavily on strikes to intercept attacking weapon hands, often with open hand to help deflect weaponry from their opponent's target. Now while this martial art requires more strength than the other styles but it does have its advantages. Lastly during your training you will also learn how to fight while blind."

"**They all sound awesome. But I thought that I would learn something with more punches and kicks and breaking through stuff.**"

Sayaka placed a finger on one of her cheeks "Well **Broken Gate** is an ancient martial art, the style focuses on strong upper-body strikes powered by both muscle and body movement, as well as powerful knee strikes and stomping kicks. Defense relies primarily on avoiding or withstanding attacks. Broken Gate is characterized by hard upper-body strikes and stomping kicks. The attacks are designed to penetrate an opponent's guard through the sheer level of damage inflicted; the art's name was taken from a story of the first Master, Jae Dal, who reputedly smashed open a meter-thick wooden gate with one blow of his fist. Because of the nature of the strikes, Broken Gate practitioners tend to avoid secondary blocks, and train themselves to dodge or simply absorb attacks. Lower-level students tend to dodge more, while more experienced fighters could shrug off most strikes. Masters of Broken Gate were legendary for their resilience, able to brush away even the fiercest of unarmed blows."

Naruto was all but drooling. "Yeah something like that, it sounds awesome."

"Well it does indeed sound great, it does have its drawbacks, it's mostly a double edged sword even more so with your condition."

"My condition?" Naruto asked puzzled.

Yukimura answered him. "My chakra is slowly being purified by the seal holding my chakra and then added to you."

"Can we stop the seal from doing that?" Naruto asked in a serious tone.

"Why would you ever want that?" Yukimura questioned curiously.

"Because I'm stealing from you, I don't want that." Naruto responded by crossing his arms.

Yukimura gave a smile and then ruffled his hair getting a pout from Naruto. "While I appreciate the feeling Naruto, I have plenty of chakra to spare so don't worry about it."

"Really?" he asked looking up at him.

"Really, beside's it's doing more good with you now," seeing his puzzled look he continued. "It will slowly but steadily increase your chakra reserves, naturally adding to it; this will in turn give you more chakra, stamina, a longer life span and increased healing."

"That sounds good, is anyone with a lot of chakra like that."

"Not to your level no."

"So why then and what's wrong with it?"

"The key here is potency" Yukimura began rising a finger "my chakra is a lot more potent, the seal purifies it of the harmful parts but it doesn't change the potency. Now because the seal does this and adds the purified chakra to your reserves making it a part of you, some of your natural attributes will be increased, which is a good thing for the most part. Now this would make you an excellent front line fighter and well geared towards a martial art like **Broken Gate**. The problem is that you can still draw on my chakra at an unconciuous level, and while you are a lot more resistant to it then others my chakra will still do damage to your body and then heal it afterwards at a fast tempo, while this sounds great, the damage is never actually fully healed, at some level your body will still be injured and stay that way permanently, it will slowly break you down from the inside out. While small uses of it are possible and the purified chakra helps to make you more resistant to the other kind, it's still very dangerous to use.

"And with a fighting style that requires you to take damage rather than avoid it..." Yukimura let Naruto finish his train of thought.

"I could end up relying on it and slowly killing myself." Naruto spoke wide eyed.

"Yes. I don't know if you will ever be able to fully control nine tails of my chakra, we will train you in using it for emergency situations, but with my eventual departure."

Naruto smacked one of his fists into his own hand, like he had just had an epiphany. "You want me to be ready for that time! So after you leave I will still be able to fight without relying on it, Broken Gate could have me growing to rely on your chakra rather than my own!"

"Precissly, there's also the fact that a style like that will put a strain on your body and at old age the effects of using it will be even worse, we want you to be prepared for when we will eventually leave Naruto-kun."

"You'll still leave one day." He told them in a sad tone.

"All things must eventually come to an end Naruto, just like life begins so must it end, its what makes life so great, because it is finite, our departure is not for years but it will happen" Yukimura got down on one knee and placed a hand on Naruto's head "what we can do is cherish the time we have together and remember it fondly. We will always live on here" Yukimura placed his hand over Naruto's heart "and be by your side."

A few minutes after he calmed down Naruto asked. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Will you ever die, if you're a god?" Naruto asked looking at Yukimura.

Yukimura sighed. "I hope so, trust me when I say it that living so long as I have is a curse far worse than you can ever imagine."

"Is it that bad?"

"Yes, far worse, I have filled cemeteries with the friends I have buried, I lived and buried a friend's seventeenth descendent, and yet I kept living, even with everything changing around me I kept on living and stayed constant. Or at least I diluted myself into thinking such a thing, I changed slowly and become more jagged losing parts of myself, my feelings towards humans after my ascension to godhood reflected this in a perfect way."

"What was it?"

"That they were insects."

"What?" Naruto asked puzzled.

Yukimura looked at the floor. "When you notice an insect on the ground, do you stop to consider it a fool? The life of an insect is so beneath you that it would be a waste of your time to even consider judging it. I was so damn high that looking down at the humans seemed all but beneath my attention. The only reason I sent small parts of myself to other worlds was for them to learn of how the gods acted so I could know who to kill and who to let live. Often those parts of me ended up learning about the world's culture, history, their fighting styles, some ended up as important figures, all that once they returned to me I didn't bother with, it seemed trivial. One thing that I am grateful for is that with my fall I have regained some of my original personality, I am more grounded now than before."

"What will you do after you leave?"

Yukimura smiled."Visit a few old places that were dear to my heart and see a few new ones. "

"You won't try to find out what happened to you?" Naruto asked his eyebrows furrowed.

Yukimura waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "Eventually I will attempt to do so, but if that something defeated me at my old level of power going after it right away would be foolhardy. I hope to discover if whatever weakened me has hostile intentions or not, and I will make my judgement then."

"So you woun't fight other gods anymore life you did before?"

Yukimura was silent for a few moments and Naruto looked towards Sayaka who had troubled look on her face. "I don't know if I did the right thing the first time around when I went after some of the gods, a few were evil but I don't know if killing them like I did was the right thing. For a few their defeat were inevitable I just took their lives sooner than they would have lost them, perhaps it would have been better to allow the people of those worlds to sort things out. It's just something else that I see in a different light enough of this talk, let's talk a bit more of your training then start things."

"Hai."

"We'll be training you a bit in how speak to a person, this combined with your keen eye and ability to read body language will allow you to be more persuasive, better haggle with merchants and give you a small edge with diplomacy. Next is how to sneak, here is where you will learn how to have a muffled movement, pickpockets and lock pick."

Sayaka began. "We did want to teach you on how to gain political pull, lead people and govern estates, but that will have to wait a bit."

Yukimura placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "One thing we want you to think about during the last few months of your stay here Naruto is that of a goal or a purpose for yourself."

Naruto began in an unsteady tone. "I don't really know what I want."

"It's alright, just think about it."

Naruto nodded. "Ok, after I leave will I be able to return to this place?"

"Yes, only in your sleep at first, and only once in a while, not every night, with your permission I can create a connection to allow us to walk after you return, it woun't be all time, but it would allow us to talk in some cases."

Naruto's face seemed to brighten. "That would be great, why didn't you do it earlier?"

"I wanted your permission."

"Please do it, you have my permission." Naruto told him in a fierce tone of voice.

Yukimura nodded. "Very well thank you, now the other good news is that we will create a portal to my god realm in Konoha for you to come here with your physical body as well, though with similar conditions of not staying too long."

"Really?" Naruto began in a hopeful tone. "That would be awesome"

"Yeah it will be pretty kick ass, it will also help with your training a lot"

"Now the last thing is something we will work on full time"

"What?" Naruto asked curiously.

"A plan to help you live while in Konoha without us."

Naruto scowled."With all those people who don't like me."

"Yes, being able to deceive them will be critical, some may very well try to manipulate you."

"Like the Hokage?" What little he cared about the man had vanished in the past months.

Both Yukimura and Sayaka help back a scowl though their faces took a disgusted look. "Yes, you can't attract too much attention and you will need to be able to look at people words and actions and see if you can find any underline reasons that they may have. You will have to use some of the skills and things we have already taught you, the foods I showed you how to cook, gathering fruits and hunting. We will teach a few more skills to help you survive, I know this is a lot for you."

"I can do it." He told them in a fierce voice.

Yukimura smiled. "I know you can," He patted Naruto on the head "I'm proud of you."

"Really?" he asked in a hopeful tone of voice.

"Damn straight. We both are Naruto-kun." Sayaka gave him a proud smile before she ruffled his hair with both hands causing Naruto to pout.

"Now, let's begin."

* * *

><p>The next months Naruto would later call a pleasant hell, his training greatly increased in all fields, from making food to hunting, skinning an animal and making use of its fur, to his martial arts and sword training. Sayaka had taken great care to help him when he first killed an animal and later skinned it, it wasn't something he liked doing but Sayaka had been there to explain why it need to be done and a shoulder for him to cry on, she hugged him and told him it was alright, the part with killing animals, even if they weren't real had taken him longer to comes to terms with.<p>

Yukimura and Sayaka wanted him to learn skills that would help him survive and live a good life without them, and wanted him to learn as many skills as he could. He enjoyed it when Yukimura taught him how to make certain drinks and sweets with rather simple things that he could use and later eat or sell. There was a special exercise he did with Yukimura that he especially enjoyed.

_Naruto looked down bellow at Yukimura, the tree branch he was currently on was sturdy enough to hold him, he held on tightly to the tree and bit his lip. _

_Yukimura had both his hands outstretched and smiled at him. "Its alright don't worry I'll catch you."_

_He moved to a side looking at the tree branches. "Umm….." he could feel his heart beating in his chest "I don't think." _

_"I'm right here."_

_"I don't think I want to; let's do something else instead okay?"_

_A serious looked crossed Yukimura's face and his tone became firm. "Look at me Naruto."_

_He looked towards him while holding onto the tree._

_Yukimura still had a smile on his face. "It's ok to be afraid, it's ok to fail. But to say that you're not even willing to try…that's unacceptable."_

_He nodded. "Okay. I'll do my best."_

_"Are you ready?"_

_He let go of the tree and came closer to edge of the branch. "I'm ready."_

_"Good, now jump."_

_With one last breath he jumped, for a brief moment he was afraid that Yukimura wouldn't catch him that fear disappeared when he felt a pair of strong arms embrace him. _

_"See it's alright, I told you I'd be here for you."_

Naruto was currently in the garden as he enjoyed the atmosphere of the place, the scent from the different flowers mixed to produce a sweet aroma, the trees provided shadows from the sun's rays, he was meditating and remembering the lessons Yukimura and Sayaka had taught him. The latest lessons came flooding back to him with memories from his training. _While I play the fool my true self must be stronger, better and must only be reveled to the people I trust, mixing the two sides can be done to help slowly ease the transition for when the time comes._

A memory of Yukimura flashed through his mind, this after he had trained more in reading people and masking his own body language.

"I have talked about this before but and an important part of your training is learning to wear a mask, to be able to deceive people on more than just one level. Act like a fool, as a fool you must seem dumber than your target, no one likes feeling stupider than the next person. The trick, is to make your victims feel smart and not just smart, but smarter than you are, once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives."

"Never inadvertently insult or impugn a person's brain power, subliminally reassure people that they are more intelligent than you are, the feeling of intellectual superiority you give them will disarm their suspicion-muscle, make people feel they are more sophisticated than you are and their guard will come down, convince them that you are a bit of a moron, and you can run rings around them. While acting this way keep your eyes open and you can discover a person's thumbscrew, everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall, that weakness is usually an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage. Pay close attention to what people say, the way their face's change when talking about certaine subjects, see if their actions match their words, shinobi will be harder to read but not impossible."

"If you can stir up the waters, anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive, you must always stay calm and objective. But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decisive advantage. Put your enemies off-balance, find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings. When the waters are still, your opponents have the time and space to plot actions that they will initiate and control. So stir the waters, get your enemies to act before they are ready and steal the initiative. The best way to do this is to play on uncontrollable emotions such as pride, vanity, love, hate. Once the water is stirred up, people cannot help but rise to the bait. The angrier they become, the less control they have, and finally they are caught in the whirlpool you have made, and they drown. People show more of themselves when emotions run high, use the mask of a fool to do this, play the fool and anger them and watch their reactions."

"Something important to remember is that you must control the options and get others to play with the cards you deal, the best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the other person a choice. Your victims feel they are in control, but are actually your puppets, give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they choose. Force them to make choices between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose, put them on the horns of a dilemma, they are gored wherever they turn."

"Finally one lesson to remember is that you must learn to conceal your intentions, this will help to keep people you want off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense, guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late. As a fool you may shout them out from the roof tops but keep your real intentions hidden, use the fake one's to advance the others."

"Make other people come to you, use bait if necessary. When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control, it is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with something, gains perhaps, than attack. You hold the cards. It is a wise thing to lure your opponent on hostile ground; it is a subtle way to put him on the defensive, your opponent will be nervous which will cause him to rush his actions and make mistakes. You will want to create the illusion that your opponent is in control of the situation, oftentimes, your opponent's greed, desires and emotions will be their great motivator which means that they can be easily led around and defeated."

"Getting people to dig their own graves forces their hand and makes you appear powerful and demand respect. Depending on the situation, bait and wait is a wise choice but taking the lead to attack your opponent can be advantageous as well. The element of surprise does not give the opponent time to think of a counter attack, they are left at your mercy and must respond to your terms. Your biggest issue is to know what tactic to use and the right time to use it. To bait and wait or to strike with force, that is the dilemma. You can be like the bear hunter who lays the honey bait trap. He doesn't exhaust himself and risk his life to find the bear he lays a trap and waits patiently for the bear to come to him."

"Or if time is not on your side, strike quickly to intimidate and control. It often works to one's advantage to allow the object of one's intentions make the first move rather than pursuing them and risking their evasive actions. The reason for acting in this way is so that the other person feels that they are in control. They feel that they made the decision to act. People do not like to give up control, so when you are patient and wait for other people to make the first move, you are giving them the power to act and feel in control. They, in turn, trust you and feel comfortable around you, because they believe you are not out to manipulate them."

"The dark side of this is that you are manipulating the person, especially if you are using some kind of bait. If you are looking for people to work with you, or searching for love, it is preferred for someone to choose you, rather than someone who you tricked into following you. When things don't happen organically, you run the risk of having to keep up a front or keeping secrets that could damage the relationship in the end. Something has to be said for allowing things to happen organically, using bait is not necessarily bad, but it is important to allow the other person to act and not to force their hand."

Next came a memory of Sayaka after he had read a book and managed to grasp some of what it was about. Sayaka had smiled and told him the rest of what the book was about adding to what he already knew. "An important lesson was to always say less than necessary, when you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague and open-ended. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less, the more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish."

"The other part was that you must win through your actions and never through argument, any momentary triumph you gain through argument is really just a victory with such a devastating cost that it is tantamount to defeat. Resentment and ill will that you would stir up would be stronger and would last longer than any momentary change of opinion, it is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate."

A memory flashed through his mind, this time it was after a lesson about sneaking inside a house, Yukimura had created several kinds of houses and shops to help him learn how to do so. He had asked about other ways of dealing with people that would be against him.

"There is something for that, and it can apply to other situations as well, the solution is to

strike the shepherd so the sheep will scatter. Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual, the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of goodwill, if you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them, strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter."

"This doesn't necessarily mean only to steal his things, thought finding blackmail material there would help to shut him up, this is more about destroying their connections, their reputation, their political pull, in some cases make him so toxic that others will drop him and run away rather then be near him. Shinobi are often called to deal with people and take the simple route of killing them, while I agree with the act, be careful not to make them martyrs, destroy them first then when their down on the ground, when no one cares anymore you can slice his throat."

"This may sound cruel and Sayaka may not agree with this but I will insist on this, when the times comes crush your enemy, annihilate them, all great leaders have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely, if one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation. The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge, crush him, not only in body but in spirit."

"An enemy that escapes could grow desperate and seek revenge in any kind of way, whether it is by supporting your rivals or attempting a suicide attack on the people you care, anything to hurt you one last time. Sayaka believes that some enemies can be turned into allies in future or that sometimes it is simply better to let your enemies destroy themselves, so you leave your enemies an escape route, that a retreat is the ultimate demoralizing defeat. Let them be the agents of their own destruction, the result will be the same. The risk of crushing an enemy is that you embitter them so much so that they spend years and years plotting revenge, do not let your guard down, but simply crush them again."

A new memory flashed through his mind, he had been playing Xiangqi and managed a victory against one of Sayaka's strategies, he had been so happy that rather then looking over the board and thinking how to make best use of this situation he pressed the attack and was soon destroyed. Sayaka smiled and told that often after achieving a victory people tend to lose sight of what got them there, that a feeling of power appears and people belive it will make them invincible.

In the heat of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push a person past the goal they had aimed for, and by going too far, one may make more enemies than in defeat. That he should not allow success to go to his head. There was no substitute for strategy and careful planning. In victory, he had to learn when to stop, that the moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. She told him how others had done the same after a victory, they had overstreched themselves and soon faced ruin, how some enemies intentionally lost one or two battles just to lure their opponents into a trap.

Now he remembered a time when he asked Yukimura about asking people for help, both were sitting in a meditive position in an open green field.

"This may sound pessimistic and Sayaka disagrees with this, there are few cases when you can agree with the request for aid because of other reasons. Now when asking for help, appeal to people's self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude. If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds, he will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself. Some may aid you because of old ties and see that they are honor bound to aid you, but not all are like that, and if you abuse such a thing you will only make the person bitter."

"The next is to be weary of the free lunch, what is offered for free is dangerous; it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. Few people offer such something for free; keep your eyes open at such occasions. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit, it is also often wise to pay the full price, there is no cutting corners with excellence."

"Now I want you to take these two next lessons to heart." he nodded.

"First work on the hearts and minds of others, coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you, you must seduce others into wanting to move in your direction. A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn, and the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions, playing on what they hold dear and what they fear. Ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you, aim at the primary emotions: love, hate, and jealousy, be alert to people's individual psychologies and their basic emotional responses. At all times you must attend to those around you, gauging their particular psychology, tailor your words to what you know will entice and seduce them, the higher your station, the greater the need to remain attuned to the hearts and minds of those below you, so it would be best to create a base of support to maintain you at the pinnacle."

"It is critical that you think before you act, use patience, it brings you peace of mind; it converts a potential enemy into a pillar of support. Take your the time to calculate and attune yourself to your targets' emotional makeup and psychological weaknesses, be alert to both what separates them from everyone else, their individual psychology, and what they share with everyone else. Soften them up, alternate harshness with mercy then play on their basic fears: hate, jealousy and also primary emotions their loves, freedom, family, once you break them down, you will have a lifelong friend and fiercely loyal ally. Learn to play the numbers game, the wider your support base the stronger your power, understand that one alienated, disaffected soul can spark a blaze of discontent, as such you too must constantly win over more allies on all levels, a time will inevitably come when you will need them."

"The second is to use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim, one sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people, once your selective honesty opens a hole in a person' armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. This is called selective honesty, who would ever distrust a person literally caught in the act of being honest? This is why an unexpected, well-timed gesture that conflicts the emotions and distracts the one being disarmed can have the most brutal and cynical beast in the land eating out of your hand."

"You must learn to give before you take; it softens the ground, takes the bite out of a future request, or simply creates a distraction. And the giving can take many forms: an actual gift, a generous act, a kind favor, an honest admission, whatever it takes. It's best if you use selective honesty on your first encounter with someone, first impressions last a long time. If someone believes you are honest at the start of your relationship it takes a lot to convince them otherwise, it is best if you build a reputation for honesty based on a series of acts. Give gifts, few people can resist a gift, even from the most hardened enemy, which is why it is often the perfect way to disarm people; a gift brings out the child in us, instantly lowering our defenses. "

"Although we often view other people's actions in the most cynical light, we rarely see the underlying element of a gift, which quite often hides ulterior motives, a gift is the perfect object in which to hide a deceptive move. Practice the tactic with caution, unless you can make the gesture seem sincere and heartfelt, do not attempt it. If people see through it, their disappointed feelings of gratitude and warmth will become the most violent hatred and distrust. If you have a history of deceit behind you, no amount of honesty, generosity, or kindness will fool people. In fact it will only call attention to itself. Once people have come to see you as deceitful, to act honest all of a sudden is simply suspicious. Overt deceptiveness will sometimes cover your tracks, even making you admired for the honesty of your dishonesty."

A final memory of Sayaka flashed through his mind.

"Naruto-kun sometimes the best choice is to pose as a friend and work as a spy, knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still play the spy yourself, in polite social encounters probe, ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions, there is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying."

* * *

><p>"Its time"<p>

Naruto opened his eyes, Yukimura and Sayaka were in front of him, Yukimura was wearing black pants and a tight fitting dark purple shirt with black lines, the sleeves were rolled up above his elbows and the shirt was unbuttoned at the neck, Sayaka was wearing a dark blue skirt that ended above her knees, a white shirt and black boots. Sayaka came over and kissed Naruto on the forehead and ruffled his hair, while Yukimura held out his fist and the two fist bumped. Today, he was returning to Konoha and leave the realm that had become his home.

"We'll be able to talk a bit after your return, remember what we've taught you."

"Stay safe." Sayaka hugged him.

Naruto nodded. "I know what my goal is now."

"Oh?" Yukimura asked curiously.

Naruto smiled as he slowly disapeared from the god realm. "I want freedom, to break the chains that bind me."

Both Yukimura and Sayaka smiled and watched as Naruto disapeared.

Sayaka looked up at the sky. "It will be lonely without him."

Yukimura nodded. "He will return."

"Not quick enough."

"True, but it would have happened eventually, and we both know it is for the best." Sayaka let out a sigh and nodded turning her gaze towards the mountains in the distance. "Now then shall we focus on the other tasks?"

"Yes let us do so." In the blink of an eye they both disappeared.

* * *

><p>Review away<p>

Constructive criticism or pointing out possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.

Check out the maps for the story, the links are on my profile page.

Check out the poll on my page and the forum where the other polls are.

* * *

><p>A.N :<p>

I've added an extra scene to chapter 1 and 2 check them out.

I was hoping to make the dialogue between Naruto and Sayaka about birthdays a bit better.

Check out the maps for the story, the links are on my profile page.

Originally another six scenes should have been added to chapter 1 but were scrapped. The scene placement was very different at first, Tea – Water – Snow- Red Queen- Tower- After, and then changing it to something else, hopefully with some help from a beta or two, I can work out another structure.

I had roughly 2000 words written for chapter 3 before I ended up writing a chapter worth's of extra scenes, 12278 words, for chapter 1 that were scrapped. Realizing it may make chapter 1 a bit too big, though I first wanted to have those scenes there, I decided to chop things up a bit, and place one extra scene per chapter. In chapter 3 I wanted to end things with Naruto after the hallway scene between Yukimura and Sayaka and include the part with Yue for the rest of the chapter. But then when the words kept coming I decided to continue and have him return this chapter and include the Yue scene in chapter 4. Sadly towards the end the drop in quality can be seen as I was running out of inspiration and using parts from The 33 Laws of Power by Robert Green. The good news is that with another extra scene that got cut from chapter 1 and some parts from chapter 3, chapter 4 already has 9685 words and the new goal for each chapter is 12600 words, so just a bit more until then. That bad is that almost 3000 thousand are an Anbu talking her situation and that of Konoha and Fire Country. And I want to do more once Naruto returns to Konoha, which may push the extra scene back further towards chapter 5.

The sword and martial arts stuff are from wookieepedia.

If any one has time check out Year of the Cloud by Ted Thomas.


	4. Chapter 4 : Unwanted Return

**I do not own Naruto**, If did Madara wouldn't act so brain dead

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – normal thoughts  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><strong><em>Listen<em>**** – biju, higher being thoughts**

**Chapter 4 : Unwanted Return**

When Naruto woke up he found himself in a hospital room, the smell of anesthetics assaulted his nose, Naruto blinked several times, his eyelids felt heavy to him, he looked around and he could see that he was the only one in the room, he saw that he was hooked up to several medical devices, and he slowly started to move around in the bed, his body ached all over, he remembered how Yukimura had told him that he would be gone for two weeks while in the realm and that his muscles would atrophy from the inactivity, but that he would use his power to minimize the damage done and aid in his recovery, gently Naruto began to move around trying to get used to his body once more, a moment later his felt a cooling sensation spread through out his body, he heard a voice, that seemed to be from far away. **Relax.** Naruto let out a breath, his body felt better now, he hoped someone would come soon.

It wasn't long before a person came into the room to check up on him, a doctor by his clothing, the man was plump, had short black hair, square black rimmed glasses adorned his triangle shaped face, his cheeks were red. _He must have run over here, so they either monitored me closely with the devices or have people in the room._

The man smiled, and wiped his hand against his forehead. "Ah young Uzumaki-san" the man began in a pleasant tone, "you are awake, my name is Ryo Bakura."

Naruto's smiled, his face took an air of innocence, curiosity and a slight tinge of fear. "Hai, ano what happened Bakura-san? Where am I? Why I are all these" he motioned towards the medical devices around him, "tied to me?"

A small brief look of panic crossed the man's face. "I think the Hokage will want to answer all of your questions."

_So he may be under orders not to talk to me, interesting, I wonder what story they made up to cover up the attack_. Naruto tilted his head curiosity engraved on his face. "Who's that?"

A shocked look crossed the man's face. "You don't know who the Hokage is?"

"Nope, ano should I?" Naruto replied in a cheerful tone of voice.

"Uzumaki-san he's the village leader, the most respected person in the village as well" the man stopped to catch his breath "why even told me that he knew you personally."

Naruto blinked at man, outwardly betraying nothing, the lessons from Yukimura and Sayaka were etched into him now, and after studying to read people the doctor appeared like on open book to him, the last six months had been more nightmare than dream, constant drills and exercises, but as he could see now it had paid off, while he has nowhere near as good as Yukimura or Sayaka, he was at least a beginner and more skilled then other people. The doctor's face gave him away, the man respected the Hokage, actually admired him, but there was also a fear of him in the man, the doctor was a loyal supporter of the Hokage, he could tell that much. He needed to play his cards right, he shrugged his shoulders. "Can't say I've heard of the Hagane."

"Hokage, Uzumaki-san." Ryo countered.

"Hokaze? He replied looking towards the doctor.

"Hokage!" Ryo placed a bit more force behind the word.

"Kazekage?" Naruto asked innocently.

"How did you" the doctor shook his head "never mind"

"Ano, can I have some food? I'm hungry." He asked in a meek tone of voice, lowering his head and slumping his shoulders.

Ryo looked at him strangely for a moment. "I…um yes of course, I'll have the nurses bring you something right away."

"Really?" Naruto stared at the man wide eyed. "You will?" He rubbed his stomach. "I thought that maybe I had missed food time and would have to wait until tomorrow."

"Why would you ever think such a thing?" Ryo asked incredulously.

"Isn't that how things are done?" Naruto asked in a surprised tone.

"No" the doctor shook his head "how can you think such a thing?"

"It's what they said at the orphanage."

A look of sadness crossed the man's face. "I umm, they have their own way of doing things there, but we do things differently here Uzumaki-san."

"Then can I stay here? Or visit? Please." He asked in a pleading tone.

Naruto could see the myriad of emotions that crossed the man's face. "You should speak to the Hokage he's…. ". At that moment the door opened and both Naruto and Ryo turned towards the door where they both recognized the Sandaime Hokage dressed in his red and white robes.

Naruto looked at man, he knew that he had to be careful around the man, he could see how hard the man's face was, although he had a kind smile, Naruto could see the steel underneath, it reminded him of how Sayaka's face had been on several occasions during their training. Yukimura always seemed more like ice, his words reverberated through his head, _play the fool, using your young age as a tool, make them feel smarter. _Naruto smiled and waved at the Hokage. "Hey you're the old man with the funny hat, you here to eat too?"

The Hokage laughed at bit and offered him a grandfatherly kind smile, Ryo looked horrified at Naruto.

"Uzumaki-san this is the Hokage, you can't speak to him like that!" the man's tone was shaken.

Naruto looked wide-eyed at the Sandaime; he tried to lift one of his hands to point at the man but failed. "Wow no way, you're the Hokage old man!"

The Hokage nodded. "Yes I am Naruto-kun."

"Then what were you doing at the orphanage."

The Sandaime took a few steps and got closer to Naruto. "As Hokage it is my duty to protect and guide this village and it's people, and I rather enjoy spending time with children and looking after the next generation of the village, especially who I think have great potential such as yourself, why did you think I visited the orphanage?"

"I just thought you were and old man that liked the visit children at the orphanage, I thought those funny clothes were all you had, you know, that you lived in them, you only came by wearing them, I thought you were just as worse of as us, but stayed in a place for old people like you," Naruto managed with great effort to lift his hand and began to pick his nose, "or on the streets." Naruto noticed Ryo's horrified expression grew larger and the man started to turn pale, if the Hokage had agents in the room they would probably be starring at him wide eyed now, he had just called the Hokage an old man, implied he was poor, thought he lived in a retirement home, and was possibly a hobo.

The Hokage let out another laugh, "Well things are a bit different then that Naruto-kun, now I'm afraid I have to ask you this, do you remember how you got here?" a small look of sadness and worry seemed to have taken over the man's face, the lines on his face only looked more visible now, like ditches that been dried up in the hot summer.

Naruto smiled. "Nope" he lowered his head a bit "did I do something bad?"

Relief overtook the Sandaime's face. "No, why would you think that?"

Naruto lowered his head even more and grabbed his bed sheets trying to cover himself more with them; he spoke in an eerily sad tone. "The caretakers say I that do bad things and that I need to get punished for them."

A veritable wave of emotions passed over the Sandaime's face. "No, Naruto-kun nothing of the sorts, you were injured in an accident, and have been here for a while, I was quite worried about you."

"You were?" Naruto asked in a shocked tone of voice looking up at the Hokage with disbelieving eyes, he could see several emotions on the man's face, sadness and sorrow appeared to be there but with someone like the Hokage he could not be too sure of it.

"Of course" the Hokage neared Naruto and made a move to ruffle his hair, but Naruto flinched and tried to move his hands in a defensive way. "I'm not going to hurt you Naruto-kun."

"Really?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"Of course not" the Sandaime told him in a stern tone of voice. "I would never do that, now Ryo-san will look to see if you have recovered from your injury, don't worry he won't hurt you either alright?"

"You promise?"

"Yes I do Naruto-kun." The Sandaime told him in a warm tone of voice.

Naruto nodded and Ryo began to examine him.

* * *

><p>Naruto looked down at his plate with food that a nurse had brought now long ago, the check up had gone well according to the doctor and during it another man had arrived, the man had blond hair reaching his shoulders, which he wore spiky on top and let it flow freely on his back, he had green pupil less eyes and strong facial features, he wore what Naruto assumed to be the a shinobi flak jacket over a grey outfit.<p>

Another doctor that would check him up as well, the Sandaime had told him, he asked Naruto to close his eyes for a moment and breath slowly. When Naruto recovered the second man had left the room and the Sandaime and doctor were preparing to leave the room as well, the Sandaime told Naruto to eat his food and to relax, that he was just stepping out for a short moment and would return swiftly.

After the door closed Naruto heard a small voice whispering to him to press his hand against the bed, after doing so he could feel something flowing from it, like water dripping out of a drainpipe, he sensed another person in the room near the door, hidden in the shadows, the energy pushed past that until it got to the door and Naruto could hear parts of the conversation, with his free hand he began to eat, making a face like the food was the first he had ever tasted in his life, it didn't compare to what Yukimura would make but it was at least better then what the orphanage had, he began eating with gusto, it was after all better then nothing. Naruto slowly started to hear words from beyond the door, the first sounded like the doctor.

"Recovery….quickly…..out in a….days….medical…."

"….good….continue…..keep me…..date"

Naruto could feel more energy being poured out and the voices suddenly became much clearer.

"Well?"

_It has to be the Hokage._

"His mind is stable" _the other man_ "though some memories have been lost, he has repressed the memory of the attack and I've added more to help ensure that the memory stays blocked."

The Sandaime let out a sigh "Perhaps that is for the best"

"I've helped things along where I could Hokage-sama."

"Good" there was a small pause "and of your other task?"

"It is still asleep."

"Dismissed"

* * *

><p>As soon as the other person left Naruto felt the energy dissipating, and removed his hand, the Hokage stepped back into the room, the warm grandfatherly smile never leaving his face.<p>

"Ah Naruto-kun it appears that you will be able to leave this place in a few days."

Naruto made a good attempt to look upset. "Why? I get food here!"

A small flicker of sadness passed over the man's face. "Didn't you get food at the orphanage? And what about your friends there, don't you want to see them?" his voice was filled with concern.

Naruto looked down at this plate and kept his face away from the Hokage. "They didn't give as much as the others, and I don't have any friends, no wants to play with me there, the caretakers said it was only natural that nobody would want anything to do with me."

The Sandaime began in a warm tone "Well those people are gone now; it's alright to return there."

Naruto looked up to him wide eyed. "All of them are gone? What happened?"

"They decided to leave our beloved village." A hint of sadness could be heard mixed with the words, but it sounded like the man was upset that they left the village and not about the departure itself.

"All of the caretakers left?" Naruto asked incredulously._ Did he kill them or actually allow them to leave?_

"Well not all of them but…."

"So the mean people could still be there." Naruto looked to close in on himself.

A quick look passed across the Sandaime's face. "Well there is something else we could do."

"There is?" he asked hopefully.

"I could get you a place just for yourself" The Sandaime answered in the same warm tone of voice as before, though now it appeared a bit more calculated.

"Really old man, you would do that for me?"

"Yes I would Naruto-kun" he placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto for his part was surprised at how close the Sandaime had gotten to him. _He moved slowly but steadily, I didn't even flinch when he touched me, he's good at getting past people's defenses, I shouldn't be too surprised. _"You're the best old man." Naruto moved and embraced the Sandaime in a hug as much as his body allowed him. _Best to let him think he's made good progress._

The next few days flew rather fast as Ryo returned and continued to help Naruto recover, apparently using chakra could help restore his muscles even faster, it also seemed that the doctor had been doing it even before he woke up to make sure the muscle atrophy wouldn't cause too much damage. The Sandaime came by a few more times to check up on him and after three days when Naruto was released from the hospital with a clean bill of health the Sandaime took him to his new home.

* * *

><p>Naruto stared at his new home<em>, this is<em>…. **_a dump_**, he heard Sayaka's voice; **_it has possibilities,_** Yukimura's voice countered. **_For a small child it's actually rather good. _**Naruto smiled briefly, hearing their voices again felt great to him.

Naruto looked around his new home; it was a one-bedroom apartment on the top floor of a building that looked sort of like a tiered cake gone wrong. It was made up of two main rooms, the bedroom and the kitchen/dining area, plus a small hallway and bathroom, it totaled up to be about 400 square feet total.

The apartment had a wooden floor, the walls were green colored, but they also had wooden planks on them, _for some reason_. To his left there was a small wooden drawer, next to it was the heater, right next to the heater was a one person sized bed with white sheets, and a medium size wooden box was at the foot of the bed.

A bit farther away was a rather large old wardrobe, next to it was a table and two wooden chairs, a large window with blue curtains was in front of the table, a cabinet was on the left side near the hallway with a small electric stove on it. In the hallway leading to the bathroom was a grey fridge with an old wooden kitchen cabinet filled with pots, plates and some silverware, _no sharp knifes, well that's logical, _there were also some hand towels in it.

Naruto quickly ran around the apartment wide eyed, looking everywhere before returning to the Sandaime, smiling at him. "This is huge! It even has a bathroom! This place is awesome! Thanks old man!"

"It's quite alright Naruto-kun." The Sandaime waved a hand in front of him dismissively. "I'll have someone come over to help teach you a few things later."

"Thanks old man, but" Naruto's tone became down cast and he lowered his head "why do all of this just for me?"

The grandfatherly smile never left the Sandaime's face. "Well it's my duty to help all of the villagers Naruto-kun, and I think you have great potential."

"You do?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes I do Naruto-kun." That warm tone of voice seemed so kind to Naruto, if it was real then the Sandaime was a fool not having better control over his troops but if it wasn't then the Hokage was a master at faking his emotions, something he was more inclined to believe.

"Old man, do you know why people look at me like they do?" he asked lowering his head again.

A small tinge of sadness entered the man's voice. "No I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I don't."

"Oh". Naruto responded keeping his head down.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure that if strive for it you will be able to get them to acknowledge you and prove to them just what a good boy you are."

Naruto kept his head down and closed his eyes as he bit his lip, _prove to them?_ He wanted to tell him that he shouldn't have anything to prove but he kept his mouth shut, he managed to get his own emotions under control and asked in a voice that bordered on crying. "Really old man?" He still didn't look him in the face afraid that the Sandaime would see the anger in his eyes.

"I'm sure of it." The Sandaime replied in a warm tone. "Now why don't I show you how some of the things in your new home function?"

"Yes please!" Naruto wiped a hand over his eyes, but averted his gaze from the Sandaime.

For the next two hours the Hokage showed Naruto how the electric stove functioned, he talked about the fridge, how he shouldn't leave the door open, about the shower, things that Naruto unknown to him already knew.

During this time Naruto smiled and looked star eyed at everything, appearing to hang on the Hokage's every word. When the Hokage left, he promised that he would return again from time to time and that Naruto could come and visit him, shortly another person came and continued what the Hokage began.

The person, Tetsu Sasaki, had a professional and cold attitude; Naruto acted friendly toward the man but the man simply rebuked any attempt Naruto made for friendship. He did his job and nothing more or less, he didn't appear to hate him or to care too much; he simply did what he was told, nothing more or less. Tetsu would return a few more times and with Naruto showing that he was able to retain everything he was taught appeared pleased and would report it to the Hokage. It was nighttime when Tetsu left, before leaving the man helped Naruto to make dinner, after Naruto washed his plate, and entered the bathroom he heard a voice that he missed.

**_Naruto as soon as you are done, go to bed directly, then place one of your hands on the room walls. _**

Naruto smiled and did as he was told, after washing up quickly he went straight to bed, as soon as he placed his hand on the wall he could feel the same sensation as before, it now felt like warm water flowing through him and slowly spreading throw out the room.

**_Well, well, well, _**Yukimura's voice had a curious tone to it**_, it appears that there are a few surprises here after all, it looks like you have someone watching you from the shadows Naruto, and there are some seals in the room as well. Be careful, we'll meet again at the end of the week. What? Yes. I'll tell him, Sayaka sends her love, just endure a bit more Naruto._**

The next few days passed far too slowly for Naruto's taste, Tetsu returned a few more times to make sure Naruto remembered and used everything he had been taught. To pass the time Naruto walked around Konoha, the people's glares seemed to surround and follow him wherever he went, he walked through some of the parks in Konoha, remembering the walks with Sayaka and Yukimura, he couldn't help but smile and think about happier times, at least the parks around Konoha were nice even with autumn arriving.

He felt bad about having his routine being broken up, he couldn't read anything, nor could he practice anything fighting style. The food he had was easy to cook, just heat it up and it was ready, the Sandaime had told him that he would get an allowance to help him buy things and live, at least the food he had was in large quantities, he missed however the fruits and vegetables that accompanied his usual meals.

The Sandaime had bought him clothes as well, and were placed in his wardrobe, there were a few of them and looked to cover all of the seasons. He spotted a few places in the parks, where he could try and plant his own fruits and vegetables later on, his own luck seemed to shine as he found some fruits that Yukimura had told him and had eaten in the parks. At night before going to bed he would often look out the window towards the stars, the view was better than he expected.

His new home, the small apartment was on the top floor of a building that looked sort of like a tiered cake gone wrong, the building was a pink nuance that had lost some of its color with the passage of time and because of the rain. There were three different tiers each with its own top; each top in turn was covered in red wood tiles that looked to have had more tiles added to them over the years, large thick cables could be seen sprawled on them, in some places the cables looked patched up, all around he could see them being tied with rope to the wooden tiles.

The second and third tiers had just below them green wooden tiles around the walls they were patched up in several places with small metal plates. What confused him greatly were the metal pipes emerging from the second tier's walls, their purpose wasn't clear to him and it disgusted him if they were actually drainage pipes that would spill their contents on the lower roof tiles and people down below, a thought crossed him mind that perhaps they were placed there for esthetic reasons.

The building had stairs to get to the first and second floors, but not the third one where he lived for that one needed to take the metal stairs that seemed steady enough but one look at them and someone could tell that they had withstood the passage of many years, too many perhaps to still be used.

At the end of week when he went to bed Naruto felt a small pull and then an embrace enveloping him, even in his sleepy state he knew who it was, he didn't struggle against it, he let himself be guided by it, he just felt happy that he was going back to where he considered was his real home.

* * *

><p>Snow Country<p>

Yue Kakuyoku moved forward, one hand rose to shield her face from the relentless cold winds that seemed to howl at them as they continued on their path, she raised her other hand and made a quick sign, a motion for her team to stop and rest.

As her team rested she checked her supplies again, she could feel it in her gut that something was going to happen, her hands went to her pouches, with kunais, explosive tags and shurikens, Yue gently placed a hand over the hilt of her sword. She was short, petite some had said; she had light skin and violet-colored eyes, black hair with several strands of hair always hanging between her eyes. She wore a hooded black cloak and black shinobi armor with parts of it white around the neck, hands, stomach and feet, she also had a badge around her uniform's left sleeve that reached her upper arm which was meant to show her rank within her shinobi village, her hiate was just above her badge.

Yue looked around herself, the forest felt eerie and looked dark, she couldn't put the feeling into words, but the place had always felt strange to her, they were close to the dragon's wall and the endless White Sea, far to close for her taste. Her dear old nan had told her stories about the ancient times, when the creatures from beyond the White Sea had attacked the world of men, of the war that was fought to drive them back and how the dragon's wall was used to keep the creatures locked away, how an order fought against the creatures and patrolled the wall.

She had dreamt of the dragon's wall, of a great wall of fire, of even greater pillars of fire rising from the fire stones, sadly all she found when she reached that place were just a few large bumps in the snow, when she looked closer she found simple large grey stones with some distance between them, she expected the fire stones to be some sort of red, in the end it was just another childhood dream that died when she got older.

Even before the ninja system arouse in the world, Snow country had an old order that patrolled the country who's purpose had supposedly been to fight against the old enemy and later to patrol the dragon's wall after it's creation, sadly the order had waned over the years, their deeds seen as myth, the order got desperate and ended up recruiting prisoners from various jails, with the rise of the ninjas the order went even farther into decline until it disappeared entirely, the ninja system had been the final nail in it's coffin.

Many of Yue's fellow countrymen claimed their country was one of the largest countries in the known world, while it was true that the country was large, sadly that was where things ended, the amount of land where people could live was small compared to its overall size and then there was the White Sea and the land beyond it that were deemed uninhabitable. The harsh weather made life difficult for the people of Snow but it had also given them a sense of pride, of being able to withstand such conditions to live and still prosper, it had been the cold weather that drove Kumo out when it invaded her country, not its armies.

The cold was both their greatest ally and their worst enemy, people talked about how snow was the great enemy, and about how the icy winds would freeze the blood in people, but the real enemy was the cold, it slowly sneaked up on someone and at first the person felt a shiver and their teeth would chatter, a person would stomp their feet to feel warm dreaming of a nice warm fire. But they didn't know the truth about the cold, it burned and nothing burned like the cold, but only for a few moments, then it got inside of you and started to slowly fill you up, and after a time you didn't have the strength to fight it, it was easier to just sit down and go to sleep. People often spoke about how you don't feel any pain towards the end, first you feel weak and drowsy, and then everything started to slowly fade, and then it's like sinking into a warm sea. She shook her head, every child in Snow learned how important it was to stay warm, the cold was constant and relentless, one simply had to adapt to its wims or perish.

Yue looked at her badge for a moment, her ninja village was not a large one, they didn't have a kage, they had a council of five shinobi, their strongest, but even their strongest jounin barely reached high B and low A class, her sensei Kaien Shiba was the only one to be close to A class, she couldn't help but smile thinking about him, the man had aided her greatly in the beginning.

Yue took out a golden pendant from a pocket of her armor and opened it reveling two pictures in it, one with her friends and sensei at a bar and the second with her little sister, she had found the small girl on the streets during a mission and had adopted the little bundle of joy, she had started teaching her what she could, as the little tike wanted to be just like her. Yue closed the pendant and placed it back into her pocket, she looked back to her team eyeing each person up.

The first she looked at was Shoji Izumi, a large man, almost twice Yue's height and just over four times her weight; the man claimed that he was just plump and that it represented a sign of his good living and wealth. He had black hair, and wore the standard armor with a modified large purple collar; the man had a smug superior look on his face, like he was better then the rest of the people. He was indeed the son of a noble family, why he had joined the shinobi force was unknown to Yue, the man had let himself go after a few years of active duty and now had problems keeping up with the rest of the team. However even with his less the desirable qualities he was exceedingly loyal to the country and their village and had shown himself to be deceptively sharp in combat enough to catch his opponents' off-guard.

Yue's eyes shifted to Ganju Shiba, a tall muscular man with chin-length black hair and a partially missing left eyebrow. He wore a green scarf, bandanna and pair of goggles alongside his armor; he was her sensei's cousin. Next was Takahiro Hirano who appeared to be a mild-featured man with brown scholarly hair enhanced by square glasses, along with soft brown eyes. The man was polite, soft-spoken, casual and uncaring, he always attempted to draw out a conversation and make small talk, which often infuriated those he was talking to, the man had always unnerved her some reason, Yue could never place the exact reason, the man was a good swordsmen and skilled with illusions, even considered a rising start in their ranks.

The fourth person was Hidetomo Kajōmaru, a bespectacled man of average height with medium length, light-colored hair which was largely combed back, except for a few strands which framed either sides of his face, three earrings hanged from each of his ears, and bands encircled his wrists. The fifth and last person was Koji Minamoto who had dark hair and a short goatee; he wore a customized version of the standard armor, wearing a thin white headband and white straps around his shoulders, which were tied in a circle at his back.

Yue returned to her team, she felt that the wind had lessened in its intensity, _a good thing; we can reach the dragon's wall and then begin our return trip after the investigation._

"It's time to move." She barked towards her team.

The men nodded and the team began its trip once more, Ganju stayed on her right, Takahiro on her left, Shoji directly behind her, Hidetomo and Koji each stayed a bit behind Shoji one on his left and one on his right, it wasn't long before Ganju approached her.

"We should start back," Ganju urged as the woods began to grow ever dark around them, the eerie felling intesifying. "Whatever people the reports mentioned are dead by now, and whatever tracks were left have been covered by now."

"Perhaps, but even so it is our duty to investigate", she paused for a moment "do the dead frighten you?" Yue asked with just the hint of a smile, her sensei had told her that Ganju had been terrified of the stories involing the old enemy, the creatures beyond the White Sea. Ganju did not rise to the bait.

Yue sighed it's not that she didn't agree with him, crossing the White Sea was almost impossible, one could walk on some parts of it as it was solid while at other parts it was soft which brought a quick death for the person who sank in the snow, it required tedious trial and error. There were stories of people managing to traverse it but those were just stories and never had any proof, there seemed to be no way to reach the lands beyond the White Sea from the South or West of the country as people attempting to do so ended up dieing in a rock slide like Gardener's End in the South or became trapped and had to resort to cannabalism such as Ruri Asano's failed expedition.

The only safe way to traverse it seemed to be the use chakra and walk on it similar to water walking, but no one had the reserve for such a feat, a few fools had tried it and were now somewhere below frozen in the White Sea. So when the reports of people being seen around the dragon's wall reached them they assumed it was people passing through or someone insane enough to attempt to cross the sea, suicide there had occurred before. Still whispers of people beyond the White Sea arriving began to spread and in order to quell them several teams had been dispatched around the dragon's wall to investigate.

"Dead is dead," Ganju told her. "People from across the White Sea, bah" he told her in a mocking tone, "probably just some fools that are seeking their death there."

"Are they dead though?" Yue asked softly. "What proof do we have?"

"How could anyone ever cross that bloody damn thing, it can't be done, not in the summer and especially not now when winter nears" Ganju told her said. "All that we'll find are some corpses if we're lucky, or a sign showing where they sank in the sea."

Yue glanced at the sky with interest with Ganju following her, dark clouds seem to fill the sky slowly rolling in from the White Sea, she bit her lip, they were a few hours away from the dragon's wall and it would take a few hours to investigate, if the weather turned bad they would have to create a shelter and spend the night at the wall, the only good news for her was that the old stones were useful in protecting against the cold when used in the contruction of the shelter.

"Are you afraid of the dark, Ganju?" Takahiro asked, Ganju didn't respond, choosing to keep his mouth shut. Yue could see the tightness around Ganju's mouth, the barely suppressed anger in his eyes under the thick black hood of his cloak, Ganju wasn't particularly fond of Takahiro either and trying to swap lines with the man had often left him looking like a fool. And yet it was more than that. Under the wounded pride, Yue could sense something else in him. She could taste it; a nervous tension that came perilous close to fear. She shared his unease, and looking at Takahiro even he seemed to be tense for some reason, Yue briefly touched the hilt of her sword once more.

She had been on this route before, the first time she had been sent on it, she had been excited and terrified, all the old stories had come rushing back, by the time she had arrived at the wall she was shaking like a leaf and her nerves were a wreck from the journey through the forest. She had laughed about it afterward and made sure to scare the rookies she took on the trip later on.

Yue considered herself a veteran of traveling this road by now, and the endless dark wilderness of the forest had no more terrors for her even if the eerie feeling never fully went away, she had believed the forest nothing new for her. That was until today, something was different today, there was an edge to the darkness of the forest, every shadow seemed to have eyes and were watching them, Yue had felt as though something was watching her team intensly, something cold born of the old legends, carefuly sizing them up, waiting like a wild beast to pounce at the right moment upon them, Ganju felt is as well.

They had been on the road for many days now and each day had been worse than the day that had come before it. Today though seemed to be the worst of them all. A cold wind was blowing out of the north, and it made the trees rustle like living things, it felt like the White Sea was trying to push them back, warning them of some dark nightmare that would descend upon them with their only choice being to return and pray. Yue wanted to turn back as well, but that meant lying to her sensei and dissapointing him, something that she wouldn't do.

"Cousin would understand" Ganju told her. "Those people are surely dead, besides we have a hard road back, look at those clouds, I don't like this weather. How long has it been since we've had weather like this?" Yue didn't say anything it was true, the weather this year had been far worse, colder for some reason. "We'll be lucky if it just snows, maybe a snow storm, do you want to get caught in an ice storm?" Yue ignored him again, she had been caught in both of those two and neither was a pretty thing, the thought of an ice storm sent a chill down her spine, even if their ice abilities relied on ice, dealing with such a storm was a nightmare.

Yue first spoke in a quiet tone, "we both know he would be disapointed in us if we didn't see this through to the end", she raised her voice for the the others to hear her, "our honor and pride as a shinobi of this country is at stake, be it a snow storm or an ice storm we will push forward and accomplish our mission."

"Well said captain!" Takahiro gave her a smile. "If the captain has no fear or hesitation then you should follow her example"

Ganju growled "It's not fear damn you it's... "

"Well perhaps you would like to discuss the species of trees around these parts to help keep your mind occupied"

"I don't want to talk about the bloody damn trees." A cold wind blew towards them. "There's something wrong here, can't you feel it?" Ganju asked.

"We know, everyone here realizes this, however constantly talking about it doesn't help, and your talk only helps to further increase the already swelling tension within our little group Ganju-kun."

Yue nodded her head towards Takahiro. "Ganju, he's right, calm down."

The group didn't speak anymore as they advanced, until in the distance Yue spotted people, as she looked closer her eyes widened at who she saw not far away both her and Ganju speed up to reach those people, Yue never noticed Takahiro slowly gripping his sword.

"Megumi-san." Yue greated.

"Yue-san, I've told you before that you can refer to me as simply Megumi."

"Hai...Megumi-san." Yue couldn't help but smile at see the woman, Megumi Shiba, her sensei's wife, a young looking woman with long dark hair that she kept tied up with a strand hanging down on each side, she always had a warm smile on her face. She was glad she could have someone else she trusted at her side.

Yue looked over the others that accompanied her sensei's wife and that she recognized, Rikū had light colored hair that was tied back into a long, braided ponytail, he had small eyebrows and was of medium height. Sho Hayami had purple eyes, long, wavy, blond hair and a perpetually bored expression. Rei Igarashi, wore her hair down with a bang completely covering her left eye, the bang that covered her left eye was dyed a grey while the rest of her hair retained its natural black color. She wore white eyeliner that brought out her ocean blue eyes. Yasushi Ōhama height wasn't something to be noticed when looking at him, the man had fiery red hair which spiked in the back, chocolate brown eyes; the man had a small horizontal scar on his right cheek. The last person of the group was Harunobu Ogidō who was of average height and weight for his age, he had brown eyes and hair that was a dark forest green, several bangs framed his face, they all wore the standard armor.

"I have to ask what are you doing here Megumi-san?" The rest of Yue's team arrived and formed ranks behind her.

"Well we finished our patrol and came to aid you with yours; we have a few extra supplies that could come in handy."

Her warm tone made her feel so safe like being wrapped in a warm blanket. Yue smiled at her. Ganju had a goofy smile on his face, but managed to keep his mouth shut.

Takahiro gave Megumi a casual salute and smile. "That's quite nice of you Shiba-san, making your way through the forest and hoping to meet up with us with no certainties of where the team would be, and considering how long it would take to reach your destination and then make your way towards us, our team could have reached our destination by now as well."

Yue looked at Takahiro. _What is he playing at? Megumi-san just came to aid us and_. Her thoughts stopped when she thought about it, it was strange though, Megumi's team had managed to reach the wall rather quickly and then she made her way towards a possible destination of her team unknowing of where they would be, for some reason the team also traveled through the forest rather then near the wall. Yue brushed those thoughts aside she couldn't think such thoughts, Megumi was probably just worried about her and decided to come lend a hand that was the type of person she was.

Megumi responded with a smile of her own. "The path was better for us and we made great time, seeing the conditions I decided to make take the team towards you, the more people the better the chances of survival in case of a rough storm, we don't leave our comrades stranded I thought you understood that Takahiro-san." The last few words seemed to carry both sadness and reprimand in them.

Yue relaxed that was just the answer she had hoped for, it did make sense to her.

"Well that is so nice of you Megumi-san" Takahiro began in a warm tone of voice and with a smile on his face.

"Takahiro enough! She came to aid us and that's good enough for me" Yue turned towards Megumi, "how do you want to handle things."

"This is still your patrol and team Yue-san, we will cover your back if you desire."

"Excellent, Izumu will take the rear guard with Igarashi and Ogidō, Megumi-san, Rikū and Hayami the middle, Takahiro and Ganju in front with me, Kajōmaru and Minamoto behind the two." The team began to make its way forward once more; it wasn't long before Ganju started talking with Megumi.

"Did your team find anything on the patrol nee-chan?"

"Nothing of interest", Megumi shook her head "mostly likely the person who saw someone near the wall was mistaken, his mind probably played tricks on him."

"See, we don't really need to go there either, it's surely nothing."

"Ganju-kun you know we have a mission to accomplish, even if it's nothing it is our duty to investigate."

Yue smiled seeing Megumi agree with her, she was aware that she emulated Megumi to a degree.

Takahiro spoke next. "Megumi-san I hope you would be as kind as to help satiate a few of my curiosities."

"Oi oi don't bother nee-chan."

"It's alright Ganju-kun, if I can I will Takahiro-san."

"My thanks; you are as kind as always Megumi-san"

"It simply my way of being Takahiro-san, I don't consider it anything special."

"Such modesty."

_Are these two trying to out compliment each other?_

"Now I noticed that Rikū-san doesn't have his sword with him."

"Yes that's correct."

"Odd considering I saw him leave with it, did something occur on your uninteresting trip?"

Yue's eyebrows furrowed, _what is he doing?_ She noticed that Rikū tensed. _What's going on?_

"Rikū-kun lost his blade while training, he was supposed to simply stay on watch duty but decided to train during it, I personally believe losing the blade was some sort of punishment for not doing his duty properly."

"An interesting view Megumi-san, religious perhaps?"

Megumi shook her head. "Nothing of the sort I just believe people get what they deserve."

The way Megumi spoke the last few words seemed wrong for some reason to Yue, they seemed to hold malice in them, something that she had never heard from the woman before, Yue decided to brush it aside.

"Oh? and the sword sheath?"

"I told him to discard it."

Yue looked puzzled. _Why would she do that?_

"Odd, why would you do such a thing Megumi-san? Losing the blade was bad enough."

"This way the loss was complete, dereliction of duty is nothing to be treated lightly."

"Of course, how right you are Megumi-san, my next curiosity is why Ogidō-san limping?"

Yue looked behind her, as the continued moving she noticed that Ogidō seemed to favor one side more than the other. _Why didn't I notice that before?_

"Oh, that, he stumbled on some branches buried in the snow, it's nothing serious."

"That's good I would hate to think that you would drag the poor man here if he was wounded."

"Perish the thought Takahiro-san."

"Well then one last question then Megumi-san, where are Ryūnosuke Yuki and Shinobu Eishima? I know that they were part of your patrol team."

"I sent them back, so they can give our report and tell the village of our choice to join up with your team."

"Oh, so you sent two people back, what about what you said about the more people the better during a storm? That we don't leave our comrades behind, why send just those two back when there are chances for a storm, it doesn't sound too good for them."

Ganju's face took an angry look. "What are you accusing Megumi-chan of you bastard?"

"It's alright, like I mentioned earlier we finished our mission rather quickly and I sent those two back immediately, the dark clouds were not yet rolling in from the White Sea, with speed they wouldn't be caught in any possible storm, however for those who had not yet reached the wall and began their return journey it would have been a lot more difficult."

"Yeah see Takahiro, nee-chan had her reasons."

"I see, thank for satisfying my curiosity Megumi-san, I am quite grateful."

"Anytime Takahiro-san."

During all this time Yue's stomach churned something didn't add up, her instincts were telling her that things weren't right, even as a part of her tried to ignore it, telling herself that Megumi-san wouldn't lie about such things.

A heavy wind blew towards her and Yue felt the attack coming from behind her more then anything, her instincts flaring, she managed to duck and dodge the kunais then threw herself back to put some distance between herself and whoever threw the kunais, the sound of metal on metal and of flesh being slashed quickly filled the air. The wind she realized mostly likely saved her life, a quick look revealed Takahiro a few feet away from her sword drawn standing against Kajōmaru and Hayami, he looked like he had been nicked in his left shoulder, Ganju had a kunai stuck in his back right arm, Minamoto was standing a few feet in front of him.

Yue gazed incredulously at who had thrown the kunais, Megumi and Rikū still had their hands outstretched from the kunais they threw. Yue's face was etched with disbelief; her voice was filled with shock and a hint of panic. "Megumi-san why?" She barely stammered the next words. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like Yue-chan? I'm cleaning ranks." She told her as if it was the most normal thing in the world, that war smile still on her face.

"So it is treason after all." Takahiro stated in a serious tone of voice.

"I assure you Takahiro-san I'm quite loyal to the new regime."

"What?" Yue asked. When she heard the words new regime things seemed to click into place, like a dam that had ruptured, small things that she had noticed began to make sense.

Takahiro gave her an apologetic smile. "Well I must offer my apologies captain-san, I thought this mission was just to kill me, but now I see that it is to kill several of us."

"Oh, so you figured that out Takahiro-san."

"Of course, Megumi-san, I have been hearing such interesting things as of late, it wasn't that hard to piece together. I believed that these mission were just to cover up the elimination of certain shinobi that weren't like minded, I was surprised when I saw you and your team, so many people just for me, either you believed I was a greater threat or someone else in this team needed to be eliminated as well. The small inconsistencies with your team such as the missing members of your team, who are dead, Rikū-san's missing blade, lost in the battle I would say, and Ogidō-san injury resulted from our dear fallen comrades that managed to put up a fight."

Megumi shook her head. "A shame, you could have been useful to us, if only you could have seen things our way it would have never come to this."

Takahiro's normal smile returned to his face, only this time it a hint of mockery to it. "I think we both know that's lie Megumi-san."

"True, we would have killed you even if you had joined us, but you would have lived a bit longer and you wouldn't have died out here in the middle of nowhere." She motioned around herself.

Ganju looked at the scene between the two with open mouth and wide eyes. "Nee-chan how could you?"

"Its Doto isn't it" Yue stated.

"Correct Yue-chan, Doto and Nadare are the future of this country; we must simply eliminate those who would oppose the new rule."

"What of sensei?" Yue asked tightening her fists.

"Oh don't worry I have" the next words were spoken in a more sensual tone "special plans for him."

Yue gritted her teeth and got into a fighting stance. "Do you really think he won't come looking for us? That he won't realize what is going on here, with other shinobi going missing!"

"Let him look for you all he wants, it doesn't matter Yue-chan." Megumi responded in a careless tone of voice.

"Did you and Raido set these missions up just to kill those who wouldn't join you?"

"No, believe it or not, we wanted to do something about you people but we were still planning when the missions came in, imagine our surprise when we saw them, the gods sent us a boon Yue-chan, even they are on our side." Megumi raised her hands towards the sky at the last words.

"Why do this yourself?"

"Because I want to be the one that kill's you Yue-chan."

"What?" Yue asked taking a small step back.

"Do you think I don't know Yue-chan?!" Megumi began in an agitated tone of voice. "Do you think I don't see how you look at my husband? I know you love him that you want him!" she shouted the last part.

Takahiro chuckled. "Well, well, it appears that there is trouble in paradise."

Izumi huffed out loud, "Hey do you know whose son I am?"

"Yeah the son of former noble family" Ogidō answered.

"Yeah, that's right I'm… wait, what do you mean former?"

"Well see," Ogidō began in a lazy tone of voice "some people are just too loyal to the old daimyo and well we can't have those people running around, so we need to make them disappear during the chaos of the takeover."

"You bastards!" Izumi slammed both his hands on the ground shaking the earth and blowing the snow away, with the earth frozen little could be done with it. Both Igarashi and Ogidō leaped away from him.

Megumi looked back with an annoyed expression on her face. "Must I do everything myself?" She drew her blade and leaped towards Izumi. "Keep her busy she's mine to kill." She yelled towards Rikū who nodded and rushed towards Yue.

Izumi managed to draw his sword and stopped a sword swipe from Megumi, using his strength he threw her back where Megumi hit the snow covered earth, Izumi turned to his right and managed to stop Ogidō's blade, while holding his own blade with his left hand he delivered a fierce right hook to Ogidō's face where a crunch was heard, the man smashed head first into a tree where another crunching sound was heard.

For a brief moment Izumi believed that he was gaining the advantage, he turned to deal with the other attacker, too late though as Igarashi made a low sword sweep at his knees and slashed him there bringing him down on all fours. Megumi having managed to get back up quickly slashed his hands, now Izumi felt the cold wind coming into contact with his warm blood. Megumi laughed a bit, "Don't worry you'll meet your family on the other side soon enough." Izumi gritted his teeth and prepared to try and leap at the woman, before he could do anything he felt something cold on his neck, Igarashi quickly cut Izumi's jugular vein and then proceeded to stab him in the neck with the same kunai.

Megumi looked at him uncaringly "So dyeing like a gutted pig, why am I not surprised?" She looked at Igarashi "check on him," she said motioning towards Ogidō "then join one of the other fights." Izumi watched as both Megumi and Igarashi left, he felt cold as his warm blood and his life spilled out of his body, the snow around him had now taken a red hue, as he felt death slowly claiming him he prayed his family would survive somehow.

Yue jumped back after a kunai battle with Rikū, she had to live no matter what to warn the others about the betrayal, she flashed through the necessary hands and released her attack creating many dragonflies, made of ice that quickly flew towards Rikū, while the man was attempting to counter her attacks she threw two kunai with explosive tags to either side of his head, Rikū had a triumphant look on his face after he dealt with her jutsu, one that quickly turned to horror when he noticed the kunais with explosive tags, he let out a small gasp as the tags exploded with a resounding boom that echoed through out the forest, bits and pieces of Rikū's head were scattered all around, small pieces of his brain could be seen on the snow, only a stump remained where his head had once been.

Yue looked around her, Ganju was on even ground with his opponent even wounded and Takahiro had managed to slice of Kajōmaru's head and was now dealing with Hayami. _Good we can win this after all, I can still warn sensei._ Yue looked onwards seeing her sensei wife approaching her, Igarashi was heading towards Takahiro and she could see in the distance Izumi and Ogidō's on the ground_. Damn it_.

She let out a small breath and quickly pulled out her sword moving a few feet back to have more space for the battle to come, now she would have to fight her hardest battle yet, with a person she had admired, and that now was a traitor, her sensei's words about steeling her heart returned to her, she waited for the now traitor to make her move. None of people fighting noticed the pale forms that roomed through the forest around them.

Ganju managed to remove the kunai from his arm and was now holding his own against his opponent, Minamoto attempted a quick sword swipe, rather then dodge Ganju blocked the blade with a kunai, he smiled, Minamoto must have believed that Ganju's right arm was too wounded to still be used, Ganju disappointed him as through gritted teeth he delivered a hard bloodied fist to Minamoto's chest.

Minamoto staggered back as he lost his breath, it was all the time Ganju needed as he delivered a hard boot stomp to Minamoto's right knee that brought the man down. Falling on his left knee Minamoto let go of his blade and Ganju grabbed the man's head and delivered a vicious knee strike to the man's chin, quickly using the kunai in his left hand he shoved it into Minamoto's face just below the ear and let his opponent fall down on his backside. Ganju quickly grabbed the man's sword and stabbed him through his left eye bringing his full weight on the sword, feeling as the blade sliced through Minamoto's flesh and bone than meeting the frozen ground.

He got up and looked at the body of his fallen enemy, it wasn't pretty, fights often weren't, but it was over, he looked over and saw his former nee-chan battling his cousin's student, they seemed to be even, he had no idea what he would tell his cousin about her actions, farther away he could see Takahiro battling Igarashi and Hayami, as much as he didn't like the man he wasn't going to let the man face off against those two alone, he would help deal with those two then help Yue deal with the last traitor. Ganju never saw the icicle shard that came from the woods to his left, it hit him in his left temple managing to reach his brain, Ganju only managed to take the first step he had intended before he fell into the snow blood pooling from him.

Yue's wait was short lived as she and Megumi quickly began to clash using their swords, the noise from the clashes quickly echoed through out the forest, both combatants tried to slash each other and both failed as they countered each other's blows. Both of them tightened their grips on their swords and charged each other again, Megumi brought her sword down in a powerful horizontal slash and Yue managed to block it with a vertical slash of her own, the force of the two blows sent a small shockwave through out the forest near them.

Yue backed away and using her free hand formed the necessary hand signs and sent out her attack creating many ice dragonflies that flew forward towards Megumi who stabbing her sword in the ground to her left flashed through her own hand signs and created a large wall of snow in front of her that blocked the attack. Yue stabbed her sword into the ground and threw several kunais with explosive tags towards the right and left of the new snow wall, sending a few above it and towards it as well.

The defense of the wall was good but it was not perfect, a hard or drilling impact technique could puncture the wall and since the technique only guarded against frontal attacks, the enemy could easily attack from the side or even from above as she now did. Yue's eyes widened when she noticed several more snow walls arise from behind the first wall that managed to defend against her attack, with another one coming straight at her, _damn it I didn't know she could do that!_

Yue quickly went through a few hand signs and created a wall of her own to defend herself, the two forces slammed into each other and broke apart, Yue barely had time to grab her sword before she was forced to block a sword swipe from in front of her delivered by Megumi who had charged through the snow. Yue cursed, she needed to gain the advantage against her opponent, a thought crossed her mind and she smiled, it was a low blow but it would do the trick.

"Megumi-san I want you to know that I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what Yue-chan? Lusting after my husband?"

"No, I'm sorry that you are right."

"I knew it! You little…"

Yue could tell that Megumi was now hysterical; she only needed a small push now. "But what I'm not sorry about is the night I spent with sensei, wrapped in his strong arms laying on his chiseled chest; I will never regret how he moaned my name."

"You little fucking bitch!" Megumi charged in an enraged state which gave her far more strength but it also showed an opening in her form, an opening that Yue took advantage off, after managing to dodge a sword slash from Megumi, Yue got passed her defenses and made a move to take her head off, Megumi managed to keep her head on her shoulders but the blade sliced into her face spreading open her right cheek, from her lips to her ear showing her teeth. Both combatants were momentarily shocked of the injury but Yue recovered first and attempted to end the battle only for Megumi to jump back to gain more space, Yue still managed to land a small blow on Megumi that sent to woman farther back.

After Megumi hit the ground she scampered away from Yue clutching her face and cursing. Yue began to advance towards Megumi when something caught her attention or rather the lack of something, _Ganju!,_ she looked around and couldn't see him, her eyes widened when she noticed his body in the a red puddle on the ground, a brief look towards Takahiro revealed that the man was down on the ground with a sword sticking out of his stomach and a few feet away only Igarashi was still standing.

Yue cursed herself for not dealing with Megumi faster, _perhaps then more would have lived,_ her hand was going towards her kunais, when her instincts flared up once more, she made a motion to dodge something that was coming from behind her, she let out a small breath as something cold pierced her right shoulder and she fell face first onto the ground, her lips breaking as they met the frozen earth.

Yue cast a quick glance to her right shoulder where it was revealed that she had an ice shard imbedded in it, she painfully managed to get back up and looked around the battlefield, shadows had emerged from the darkness of the woods, they were tall, gaunt and hard as old bones, their flesh seemed to change color as it slowly changed from pale as milk to a blue that Yue could swear was from the heart of ice, their armor seemed to change color as they moved as well; for some it was white as new-fallen snow, others a light blue, a few black as shadow, but all seemed to be marked with many spots with the deep grey-green color of the trees.

Igarashi stood petrified as one of the creatures neared her, Yue attempted to warn her but the words wouldn't leave her mouth as if they were afraid to leave the safety of her throat. The creature slid forward on silent feet, it had a longsword like none other that Yue had ever seen, and she knew there was no metal in that blade. The blade seemed thin, it was almost translucent, the blade all but vanished when seen edge-on, she could all but feel the sharpness of the blade and it's icy touch.

The creature raised the blade in front of Igarashi and then swiftly brought it down in a vertical slash, the blade all but vanished for a few moments, when the creature brought the blade back to it's side it had a red tint to it. Yue wasn't sure what the creature had done, _could it have missed?_ However a few moments later Yue got her answer, a small bit of blood began to spill from Igarashi's forehead and mouth, Igarashi began to move her hand to touch her forehead, her hand never got there as blood began to spill from her chest and her body split into two having been eviscerated by the creature. Steam seemed to rise from Igarashi's body as her warm blood came into contact with the cold air, the creature near the corpse hissed and took a step back.

Another one of those creatures moved towards Megumi blade drawn, who grabbed her blade with both hands exposing her injury to the cold, showing her torn flesh, teeth and dripping blood. Megumi looked at the creature before she stabbed her sword in the ground next to her and flashing through hand signs to send a wall of snow towards the creature who stood still. The wall of snow hit the creature head on, but it was like the ocean waves hitting the rocky shore, it broke apart with not even a scratch on the creature. _Of course not that thing is made of ice!_

Yue saw how Megumi grabbed her own sword and charged the creature who's pale sword came shivering through the air, when the blades met, there was no sound of metal on metal; only a thin sound from the edge of hearing, Yue couldn't place the exact sound. Megumi kept trying to slash the creature swinging her sword only for the creature to counter each blow. Megumi took a step back, then unleashed another flurry of slashes desperately trying to land a blow, Yue could see more and more openings in her form, she knew Megumi's end was near.

All around them the creatures stood patient, faceless, silent, the shifting patterns of their delicate armor making them all but invisible in the wood. Yet they made no move to interfere.

Time and time again the swords met, Yue felt frozen she wanted to charge in and aid Megumi with the creature and yet she stood still, she was afraid she realised that the creatures would all attack if she interfiered. Whenever the blades clashed Yue all but felt that sound in her bones, a wisper of something sinister, slithering it's way towards her.

Yue could see that Megumi was panting heavely from the effort, her breath steaming, the fight before and her injury only worsend things for her. Again Megumi tried to slash the creature but overextended herself and with a quick move the creature's pale sword bit through Megumi's armor and cut off her right arm off just bellow the elbow. Megumi let out an agonizing cry and blood poured from her wound and steamed in the cold, Megumi quickly clutched her stump.

The creature said something in a language that Yue did not understand; it's voice was like the cracking of ice on a winter lake, it advanced towards Megumi who appeared paralyzed before the thing and looked to have accepted her inevitable fate. The creature neared Megumi until it stood in front of her and raised one of it's clawed hands with jagged like fingers, a gust of wind blew and everything seemed silent before the creature shoved it's hand into Megumi's stomach, Megumi let out a small cry, a few moments later the creature ripped out its hand from her stomach and dragged Megumi's intestines with it spilling them on the frozen ground. Megumi desperately tried to cover the hole in her stomach and fell to her knees, the creature let out a shriek and Megumi looked up towards it where she saw the clawed hand descendent upon her again.

The creatures arm pierced Megumi's chest with a sickening crack, the sound of bones being broken and flesh being torn filled the air once more, the creature seemed to pump something within Megumi's body as she turned a deathly pale with the veins in her face becoming a visible white, a few moments later the creature removed its hand and Megumi's broken body fell limply to the ground.

Yue had watched petrified as everything unfolded and now she realised it was her turn, as the creatures slowly turned towards her, one of them began advancing in her direction with its blade drawn. Yue used her left hand and clutched her sword, her thoughts flew to the old tales, how she had been terrified of meeting one of these creatures during her first trip to the wall. She didn't know how she would deal with these creatures, she couldn't overpower them physically, her techniques was hampered by her injury and she couldn't taunt these creatures, Yue gritted her teeth, at the very least she intended to take one of these creatures with her and make this battle cost them. "Let's dance!" Yue shouted.

She leaped forward and began to battle the creature, sword slash after slash followed, Yue tried every sword stance her sensei had taught her and at every point she found her blows being parried, she tried to slash the creature's legs, arms, chest, even took the advice from crazy old man Yagimi, _when in doubt go for the eyes!._ Nothing seemed to work against the creature who parried each blow, worse she could see her sword, the same sword who's forging had been done with precious metal that had cost her dearly, that she had taken great care of slowly being chipped away, with every clash of the swords, her own blade lost a piece of itself.

Yue charged forward again the creature's parry had gotten lazy, she just need one chance, that came when the creature's parry came a moment too late, Yue managed a sword slash upon the creature's chest, the noise made from when her sword meet the creatures icy flesh sounded like ice breaking mixed with nailes being dragged on a chalkboard. The creatures anguished howls sounded through out the forest and Yue knew that with the pain was mixed a howl of utter shock. A large cut could be seen on the creatures chest with a white substance slowly dripping from it_. A cut!_ "So you do bleed! You're not immortal!" Yue suddenly felt a fire ignite within herself.

The creature brought it's sword towards Yue who began to dodge as best as she could, her sensei's word sounding in her head. _It doesn't matter if the enemy is taller or stronger they can still die, just find a weak point and strike, it they don't have one then make one yourself, draw the battle out make them feel superior then when they lower their guard strike hard. _

One sword blow Yue couldn't dodge properly and brought her blade to parry it when the blades touched her's shattered, a silent scream that echoed through the forest night left Yue's mouth, she had less then half of her blade left. Her opponents blade was emmbeded in the ground from force of the earlier blow, she didn't hesitate Yue threw what was left of her sword in the air above her, then as quickly as she could flashed through a short series of handsigns, _chances are at this range it is going to hurt me as well, _for a moment Yue looked into the creature's eyes; they were blue, a deeper and bluer than any human eyes, a blue that burned like ice, a moment later she unleashed her attack, a fire jutsu, the Phoenix Sage Fire Technique that created a volley of small fireballs, which were sent flying in an unpredictable manner assaulting her enemy, with the close range all the attacks hit the creature head on eliciting another round of howls from the creature, she was hit with the a small aftershock wave of the attack but she didn't care.

Grabbing her falling sword Yue lunged and stabbed the creature in its chest that now appeared to be melting and caved in at some parts, if her blade had a few more centimeters she would have managed to stab the creature in the face. The creature seemed ready to fall on her and its head was a few centimeters away from her; Yue knew she couldn't let the occasion slip by. Yue grabbed a kunai from her pouch and prayed that its metal could cut through the enemy, the gods she reckoned, were fickle tonight as the kunai shattered when it made contact with the creature's cheek.

She quickly used the back side and hit the creature in the face making contact with its nose, a mistake she realized too late as when her hand made contact with the creature's face her hand felt as if her blood had turned to ice. Trying to get away as quickly as she could Yue used a strategy that she had used in the past, it was common for her, nothing special, she used her enemy's body to jump of to put some distance between the two, it was her last mistake.

As soon as Yue's feet made contact with the creature's stomach Yue felt like she had been plunged into the coldest river, through gritted teeth Yue managed to throw herself away from the enemy, with the loss of feeling in her legs Yue couldn't land as she planned and she quickly found herself hitting the ground, the ice shard embedded in her shoulder plunging through her body and emerging from her chest, she coughed blood as pain filled her senses.

Yue struggled to open her eyes, painfully and with effort she managed to fully open them and looked on as the creatures now surrounded her, she noticed the one she had fought with still had her sword embedded in its chest, a white substance dripping from her sword slash, its chest looked caved in with the same substance pouring from its other wounds, the creature looked on its last leg as well. _Something to remember me by_. Yue's last thoughts were of her beloved sister, little Fubuki with her bubble gum pink hair and her spring green eyes, of her sensei and friends, she could only feel pity for them, they were unaware of this threat, the old legends were true, the ice ones had returned and now her country would fall to them, she heard a small shriek before the ice one's clawed hands descendent upon her and began to tear into her body.

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><p>Review away<p>

Constructive criticism or pointing out possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.

Check out the poll on my page and the forum where the other polls are.

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><p>Chapter 4<p>

Finally some fight scenes! Critique on the fight scenes is wanted and appreciated. Not sure how well they turned out, I was hoping for some more bang. Well it's another brick laid down, hopefully one day I can write that great fight scene for Flash Goddess.

If you know from where I got the inspiration for the last part and could spot the similarities, congratulation you have great taste, that also means that you are part of the club that's hoping and praying the man can get the last books out before he drops dead from old age or a heart attack.

So apparently even with no new chapter, after posting the SOPA message, Flash Goddess got more reviews than all my other fics combined….. sigh, of course it did, not sure why I'm surprised at this point.


	5. Chapter 5 : Plans set in stone

**I do not own Naruto, ****if I did Tsunade would not be crying about how she doesn't have any chakra left while keeping her henge active.**

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now – normal thoughts<em>  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><em><strong>Listen<strong>_**_ – biju, higher being thoughts_**

**Chapter 5 : Plans set in stone**

When Naruto woke up in his old room with Sayaka near his bedside he couldn't help but let out a yell of pure joy, he quickly jumped towards Sayaka attempting to envelope her in a hug. Sayaka warmly smiled and hugged him tightly.

"I'm glad your back Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded not breaking the hug.

"We both are."

Naruto turned around seeing a smiling Yukimura leaning against the door, while Sayaka still held onto to him tightly, Yukimura came closer and ruffled his hair.

"Glad your back."

"It's good to be back. I don't like it out there" his face took a scowl "the people look at me with those cold eyes and their glares seems constant no matter where I go."

"It's alright now Naruto-kun." Sayaka kissed him on the top of his head.

Yukimura let out a sigh "Sadly it will take a long time to change that."

Naruto nodded and smiled as Sayaka began to play with his hair. "I know, it's just" he paused for a moment and shifted uncomfortably "everything feels so dark and depressing out there."

Yukimura bit his lip "We'll see what we can do to help you make some friends."

"Do you think I'll be able?" he asked looking at both Yukimura and Sayaka individually.

"Of course, Naruto-kun" Sayaka gently squeezed his shoulder with her free hand.

"Sayaka's right, it will be a bit difficult to find a real friend, but not impossible."

Naruto nodded.

"Now I heard someone's goal is freedom?" Yukimura asked in an amused tone of voice.

"Yeah" Naruto chuckled and tried to rub the back of his head with his hand only to be stopped by Sayaka who was still playing with his hair.

Yukimura smiled "The question is what kind of freedom you desire"

Naruto quickly cut in. "Of the chains that hold me down"

"Oh?" Yukimura had an amused look on his face "Philosophical aren't we."

Naruto laughed and this time was able to scratch the back of his head. "I want to be free of Konoha and the label they've branded me with."

Yukimura nodded. "It will be difficult in the long run; most of the villagers will be against you and others that will discover what you hold."

Naruto quickly responded. "Nothing worth having is easy to obtain."

Sayaka hugged him again. "I think someone's reading is paying off."

Naruto laughed a bit before he stopped remembering his new situation. "I can't even read any books in that place the Hokage gave me, I missed this place and the library here is huge."

Yukimura coughed awkwardly. _Best you don't know how large it is, I'll keep the smut section locked, no matter how much Sayaka may insist otherwise. _

Sayaka snarled "Don't get me started on that place; it is a dump, and giving you an apartment on the top floor? The old man must be insane." The last words held more anger in them.

"It has potential" Yukimura countered "eventually when the other people move out we could expand, and make the place bigger, of course it will take a while and we will need to be careful about how we go about it."

"Why would they move out?" Naruto asked before a flicker of realization passed over his eyes. "Oh because I live there" he finished in a depressed tone.

"Ignore them Naruto-kun. Eventually you will have your own place to call home."

"It's just" Naruto stooped unsure of how to continue "that I like this place, when you leave will this realm be destroyed?" he asked looking at Yukimura who grimaced.

"Yes, I can sustain it for a while, but in the end it will be destroyed."

"There is some good news Naruto-kun."

"There is?" he asked in a hopeful tone.

"Yes, while Yukimura still doesn't have all of his memories back, there are bits and pieces that suggest that there are other continents out there, we could try to send you there when he's back to full power, or at the very least help make your journey there a lot easier."

"That would be great." New hope seemed to blossom in him now.

"I thought about taking you to a different world than this one when we leave, but sadly there are far too many complications to it."

"Is traveling that difficult?" Naruto had been curious about the subject.

"It's difficult to establish a connection to a different world, traveling there also has its own issues, but the problems are represented by the differences for life on those worlds."

"Don't humans exist there as well, if you came from one of those worlds?" he enquired.

Yukimura nodded. "That's just it, in my world there was a substance in the atmosphere and that was absorbed into the peoples bodies, because of that we gained a few more organs and it was what allowed some of us to gain and use special abilities, similar to how shinobi have chakra, the only reason I could still use my own ability after leaving my world was because I had stored quit a bit of it during my lifetime and the different magic arts I discovered during my trips."

Naruto nodded absorbing what Yukimura said until he heard the last two words and his eyes bulged. "Magic exists?"

Both Yukimura and Sayaka smiled. "In my world and in other worlds yes, what did you think we used around here and when I found out who was in the room with you back in Konoha?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders "Um, god powers?"

Yukimura chuckled "God powers are magic on a far larger scale, think of it as comparing a puddle to an ocean, oh you can use the water in the puddle to do something, but it pales in comparison to a tsunami that an ocean can unleash."

"Can I ever use magic?"

"Yes."

Naruto's eyes widened "Really? That sounds great" his face took on an inquisitive look "Why don't you teach me then, is there some sort of problem?"

Yukimura nodded "There are a few problems that could pose a risk."

Sayaka gently led Naruto back on the bed and went next to Yukimura before answering his question "First it would be that as a future ninja you must learn to use chakra, the teachings related to chakra encourages people to train both their body and their mind, sadly with magic some have a tendency to only train their minds over their bodies."

Naruto nodded. _I suppose it makes sense, but there's probably something more_. "And the other reasons?" he asked looking at the two who were giving each other strange looks.

Yukimura in the end was the one who answered. "If magic hasn't been used in a very long time, and you start using it, there is a chance that you could get unwanted attention from some of the supernatural creatures still out there, worst case you end up waking one up if you use magic near its place of slumber."

Naruto bit his lip "That doesn't sound good at all."

Yukimura waved his hand in a dismissive manner "Don't worry about it for now, on the bright side we have been working on some chakra control exercises for you to use."

"Really?" Naruto's eyebrows furrowed "But won't it arouse suspicion if I'm seen practicing them."

"Don't worry about that Naruto-kun, it is something we have taken into account, these exercises are rather simple while still being very effective and involve more meditation and focus then anything else, once your guards are recalled we will be able to teach you the more advanced ones, hopefully by then we can create other new ones as well." Sayaka placed a finger to her chin and smiled "A few techniques can actually be done while in bed and pretending to be asleep, to help shrug of suspicion."

Naruto smiled and nodded before he remembered something Yukimura had told him the day he arrived to his apartment. "You mentioned that there were seals in my new home?"

Yukimura's face took a serious expression "Yes, there was an Anbu hiding in the shadows, there are also some seals on the walls of the room and upon most of your cloths."

"What?!" he yelled "Then the old man really did set me up!"

Yukimura nodded and took a seat near the bed. "Yes, yes he did" Yukimura rubbed his chin "at first I thought that there was a chance that the seals were just tracking seals, that however changed when I detected someone watching you and a few of the seals flared. I believe they are a combination of tracking seals and monitoring ones that use some sort of device that allows the Hokage to literally watch what you're doing."

Anger swelled up inside of him. "That, that…." Naruto let out a breath and calmed himself down "so what do we do about it?"

Yukimura smiled. "Plans within plans Naruto, once we find out to what the seals are tied to we can use them to our advantage."

Naruto nodded quickly thinking about their conversation before he furrowed his eyebrows once more remembering a something from it. "You never mentioned the other problems with leaving this world."

"Ah, yes," Yukimura rubbed the back of his head "it is rather complicated, to explain the exact mechanics of traveling to another world would take a very long time, heck just getting past what protection the other world may or may not have to keep others out is a tricky matter. One thing is that we would need to find a world, where you can actually live and would be able to have children one day."

"Is such a world rare?" _The differences can't be that big._

"As mentioned before, my home world had a substance that allowed us to use magic, now if your body has chakra in it and produces it and the air itself in the other world if filled with this substance that seeps into your body and changes it, what do you think would happen if you went there."

Naruto's eye bulged again. "I could die, or suffer immensely because of it! The two types of energy may end up clashing together inside of me."

Yukimura sighed and nodded with face marred with sadness. "Unfortunately yes, there's no telling what may happen in such a world."

A quick though struck him and he asked in a frightened tone "But what about the magic in this world, if you said I can use it, then it's different somehow right?"

"Don't be afraid Naruto-kun, people here have the potential to use magic by unlocking it from within, here there is no substance in the atmosphere that is the cause of it."

Naruto let out a relieved breath. "So I wouldn't be able to visit worlds like that then."

"You could visit, but even that would have it's own risks, the other issues, are that your body may be a bit to different from the other people, they could have some more red blood cells in comparison to you, at a genetic level, you could be different then them. Heck in some worlds the air itself is different, and it would result in you having difficulty in simply breathing; children in those worlds would also be out of the question."

"Is it that bad out there?" he asked, things looked painted to form a rather depressing picture.

Yukimura had a thoughtful look on his face. "Not necessarily bad, just different."

Sayaka gently squeezed his shoulder and smiled. "Naruto-kun, there are countless worlds out there, and it would take years to search through them and even then some would require us to travel there for closer inspection, it's why training you to survive here has become a greater priority then before."

Naruto sighed "All right, I understand."

"Don't be sad Naruto-kun;" Sayaka smile seemed so warm to him "there is still hope for that, faint as it may be."

Naruto nodded "Yeah, I thought that this could still happen."

Yukimura let out a sigh "We'll do what we can, but you must keep in mind that you may end up living in this world for the rest of your life."

"Ok." He let out a resigned sigh of his own.

"It doesn't mean that you'll have to live in Konoha for the rest of your life, just for a time, we'll search for a way for you to leave this continent and get to another one." He looked towards Naruto and smiled. "But in the mean time you'll have to make some sort of life for yourself in Konoha. Remember home is where the heart is."

Naruto nodded.

Yukimura padded Naruto on the head. "Cheer up even with its problems this world isn't that bad, from I remember there aren't any dark gods here, no one trying to turn the world into a charnel or needing skulls for a skull throne."

Naruto's eye bulged again and he retreated further onto the bed. "There was that kind of world?"

"You're scaring him." Sayaka hissed, she quickly moved and enveloped him in a protective embrace.

Yukimura looked to regret uttering those words and waved his hands in a reassuring manner. "There was, but I took care of those gods, so calm down and don't worry."

"You're sure they're dead for good?" after getting a nod from Yukimura he calmed down. "Ok, I'll try to get some people on my side to make life easier; I don't think I'll be able to make friends anytime soon."

"Yes, you will Naruto-kun it'll just take a while longer." Sayaka tightened her embrace.

"She's right" Sayaka gave Yukimura a look that screamed We already knew that "don't doubt it for even a second." Yukimura smiled "How about we go sledding again and then talk about your plans and training afterwards?"

Naruto nodded "Ok, that'd be nice, how long can I stay here this time?"

"Not as long as before and the time will vary as well. Now you should change clothes and get ready Naruto"

"Hai"

Sayaka released Naruto from he embrace and he quickly got down of the bed, both Yukimura and Sayaka quickly left the room as Naruto began to search through his drawer for different clothes.

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><p>As soon as the door closed to Naruto's room, Sayaka turned towards Yukimura. "So what do you think?"<p>

Yukimura had a thoughtful look on his face "We can make things work." He responded in a firm tone of voice.

Sayaka nodded "Indeed, the road is just as hard as we imagined, he will need strong allies for the wars." Sayaka could all but see the gears turning in Yukimura's head.

"There were a few faces I noticed in the first vision of the future; the later ones have also revealed quite a few others."

"Yes, there were a few interesting ones, having him become friends with them and gently pushing their training ahead, could gain him some stronger allies for the eventual conflicts."

The thoughtful look never left Yukimura's face. "Especially if we add to it as well."

"You want us to reveal ourselves?" she asked in a surprised tone of voice.

"Not necessarily. If he mentions how he was accesses to some of the Kyuubi's memories and has gained knowledge of some fighting styles and techniques that he can teach them, it wouldn't directly involve meeting us."

Sayaka nodded. "But it would lend credence to his teachings" she brought her hand to her chin in a thoughtful manner "well, that's one way to go about doing things, and it does have some advantages."

"True, there was one person I think he would be able to approach early on and get her on his side; it would require our intervention to aid her before she is lost."

"Oh?" she asked intrigued, the number of people wasn't that high, realization quickly struck her and she nodded "Well she does have potential; we will need to watch carefully for when the incident occurs."

"Yes" Yukimura smiled "now let's have some fun."

* * *

><p>Six torches lit the otherwise dark room, four in each corner of the room and another two near an old fashioned wooden desk were a person sat behind, upon the desk several scrolls, a map and a shogi board with the a few pieces moved could be seen. Five people stood in a kneeling position, each person wore black shinobi clothing with a black cloak, forehand and shin protectors and were armed with a tip-less tantō. Every person had featureless white masks on their faces. Behind the desk sat a person who appeared to be a frail, old man, he had black shaggy hair, and his right eye was bandaged. The man had an x-shaped scar on his chin, he wore a white shirt, with a black robe over the top of it covering from his feet, to just over his right shoulder.<p>

The man picked up a scroll of the desk, "Agent 33" one of the persons kneeling on the floor arose and took the scroll he was handed, the person, who had short spiky black hair, nodded and went back to his position. The mission would require the use of certain styles of executions in order to create the impression that the bandit gang problems near the border with the lower countries were far worse than they actually were.

The man picked up another scroll "Agent 41" a different person, a woman with short black hair arose and took the scroll she was handed. This mission would require the squad to set off several attacks within the country in order to influence several people on the continuous need for shinobi protection.

"Agent 45" the exchange was as fast as before, a girl with brown hair arose and took the scroll this time. The squad would travel to different places in the lower countries and would use many small acts of violence and terror to cause social unrest, then that unrest would blossom into war and people would begin to kill each, if the conditions weren't right they would further help things along. A few of the agents would slip in and pretend to be civilians during the eventual demonstrations that would occur and attack the soldiers used to contain them to give a reason for the soldiers to crack down on them, while others would slip in amongst the soldiers and retaliate at the first chance, or if need be, start the violence themselves.

"Agent 92", The Land of Sea still had problems with some rebels and one of the men in power planned to destroy a medical clinic and blame the rebels; using the attack as a justification for further violence against the rebels. _Considering the geography of the country with its islands and the nature of some of the trade it does it isn't surprising that conflict would arise._

"Agent 134" a man arose and quickly picked the scroll before kneeling back down, one of his greatest plans, setting up one of these to trigger increased tensions between The Land of Earth and The Land of Valleys, Wind and Stone. The Land of Valleys was still tied to the Land of Earth in many ways, even with its so called independence. The plan was to have an assassin kill an important pro-independence political figure during an independence rally, thus turning him into a martyr for the independence movement, while at the same time having agitators in the crowds incite violence and riots, in order to push the land further toward favoring independence and thus toward conflict. His men would leave clues behind that shinobi were involved, with the uneasy relationships between Iwa, Suna and hidden boulder village, it would create even more tension between the three.

"What are you?" The man intoned, his voice firm.

All of the people chanted in a monotonous voice. "The unseen ones who support the great tree of Konoha from the depths of the earth."

No emotion passed over the man's face. "Who are you?"

"Root, we have no name. We have no feelings. We have no past. We have no future. There is only the mission."

"Dismissed"

"Yes, Danzo-sama."

Once the room was empty Danzo looked over the map of the continent, he never doubted what he did, and he knew it was the right thing, even those in power knew it. He would send his agents to cause trouble in other countries to ensure that they keep fighting each other and seek to hire Konoha, he would even commit acts of terrorism and sabotage against Fire Country for the betterment of Konoha, to secure more contracts and keep things sharp in the country, everything he ever did was for the betterment of Konoha.

A brief memory flashed through his mind, of a man dressed in blue samurai like armor with spiky grey hair. _One way to weaken two factions is to assassinate one of their important figures while under the guise of the other faction, then let the two fight it out, while you wait and observe the situation play out, when an opportunity presents itself from this situation you would simply have to take it. The two sides would decrease their own manpower, and open themselves up for an attack, new territory could be gained far more easily, either way the two sides would be weakened._ He grunted as he returned his view towards the map._ A shame that many have forgotten the Nidaime's wise words._ Danzo's lone eye turned towards Suna, Iwa and the smaller countries that stood between them and Konoha.

Two years ago Suna after a scandal with Iwa over the loss of a promising jounin of theirs, had in secret attempted to pit Konoha against Iwa, they had to intervene to aid Konoha and snatch up land only after Konoha had spilled its blood in weakening Iwa. Something that he couldn't allow to occur, Konoha would have lost more then it would have gained, a few brief moves on his part ended their ploy and managed to set them back, a few clues left behind ensured that the Hokage would be more wary towards Suna. Danzo's eye moved towards Ame. _A pity that the deal with Hanzo did not materialize, Konoha could have had a true Hokage. At the very least things on that front are locked in a struggle that will keep Ame out of the political arena for the future. _

Danzo shifted his gaze towards Konoha. _More and more elements are coming together to form the perfect storm for my ascension to the title of Hokage. Orochimaru will play his part and help eliminate Hiruzen, perhaps Hiruzen may yet manage to wound Orochimaru badly enough for me to finish the latter of, either way when he attacks the village a few of my agents will ensure that more damage is dealt to show the full impact Hiruzen's philosophy has brought to the village, the destruction of some of the Hokage faces on the mountain will aid in raising outrage against the attackers and the leadership that allowed such a thing to occur. _

_The tension with both the Uchiha and Kurama clans is steadily growing; all it needs is someone to stroke the fires to ensure it continues and inevitably adds another black mark on Hiruzen's record. The Kurama clan may yet see things my way and aid in me in my bid for the title of Hokage. Perhaps I may yet be able to recruit a few Uchiha's as well into my army with the tension. _

Danzo leaned back into his chair; he would soon start to recruit children for his army from Konoha's clans, one Yamanaka with great potential had already been recruited thanks to his aid inside of the clan. A few agents of his would search the nearby towns for children with potential, while only a handful would search in the lower countries. As Danzo got up from the chair he cast his gaze towards the shogi board_. _

_Already the pieces are in play, Orochimaru, my agents, tension in Konoha, they are all creating the perfect storm for my ascension to my rightful place, one were I will guide Konoha as its Hokage and unify the shinobi nations under one empire, thus ending the possibility of any future war between the shinobi nations and bringing peace and stability to the land. _

* * *

><p>The cold night wind could be heard as it howled outside, the inside of the cave was warmed by numerous fires, with sheets and other materials used to create rooms for the people, small cracks in the walls were used to air the place and ensure the people did not die from the smoke.<p>

Beige sheets tied around together with three wooded pillars formed the main entrance to a particularly large room, on the inside an old fashioned rug with dark red and yellow colors could be found on the floor, two large metal pans with fire in them were placed on either side of the room. Along the torches were placed to help illuminate the place, near the walls chests of various sizes could be found, towards the end of the room was a large oak table with books, scrolls and maps placed upon it.

Near the table stood an elderly man, even with his advanced age the man was well toned, he stood at moderate six feet, had a light skin tone, a rectangular face, the man had short white hair, a few patches of an earthly brown could still be seen from his youth. His straight hair revealed a lean, gloomy expression, heavy gray eyes that looked to have seen horrors born of the darkest pits were set sunken within their sockets, a beard charmingly complimented his nose and mouth and left a beautiful memory of his past. The way the man held himself still spoke of a martial prowess that was not to be underestimated, he seemed to radiate authority and his presence demanded respect. The man wore an opened dark brown battle robe, light brown shirt and pants, black boots and a black undershirt that could be seen from his color, a dark blue sword sheath was barely visible on his right side.

"Enter" he sounded as if it carried the weight of the world.

The beige sheets were parted as an elder woman with curly grey hair and grey bandages that covered her lower face from the nose down dressed in a black kimono and an undistinguishable middle aged man dressed in a dark green battle kimono entered the room. They both stopped in front of the man and bowed slightly; the man looked at the two and made a small sign for them to rise.

"Report."

The middle aged man brought out from a pocket of his clothes several small scrolls tied together by a thin red string and handed them to the elderly man. "Our agents have managed to get closer to their objectives, in a few years they will be in the positions we need them to help distribute our gift" the man had a small crooked smile "the infighting amongst their nobles allows us better cover to move behind from, it is fortunate that they seem more interested in fighting each then doing their jobs, as long as one appears meek and submissive our agents jobs are secure."

The elderly man simply nodded. "The doctor?"

"Has agreed to join us, once we are certain of his loyalty we will allow him to look over our creation and see how he can help to improve it" the man's crooked smile only grew larger "already it is quite the nasty piece of work."

"Acceptable." he handed the middle aged man a scroll from the desk. "Have our people begin searching for the sannin Orochimaru, with his betrayal of Konoha he may yet become a valuable pawn in the future."

The other two people scowled but said nothing their leader had a plan and would not pursue such a course of action without thinking it through, the middle aged man took the scroll bowed and left the room.

The aged man turned towards the woman that gave him a small scroll from one of her sleeves, the woman spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Their training is going well and the others are in good shape considering their age and our ...conditions."

The elder man's thin lips formed a small barely noticeable smile. _Even with everything that has occurred our people remain strong._

"I have found a child with potential for that role."

The man's flat eyebrows rose in surprise. _The child must have potential for her to approach the subject._ He nodded.

"Hidero." The woman called out.

A small young boy entered, he looked frail, was bald and wore rags stitched together, the boy quickly bowed to the elderly man.

"Do you know what you shall become if you survive?" _  
><em>

"A weapon of vengeance for my people."

He looked into the boy's eyes; he could see steel in them. The man through a weapon from his robes at the ground in front of the boy; it was an extremely long kunai that lacked a ring at the end.

"What is that?"

The boy's eyes widened as he looked at the weapon "Our traditional weapon, a part of our heritage."

"You will forsake that weapon if you continue, as will you forsake your heritage."

"I will do whatever is needed for my people's revenge."

The man simply looked at boy for a moment longer, _in other times the boy could have become a true leader for our people_, during the initiation ritual the boy would be immersed in an oily bath and would be covered from head to toe in black and red tattoos. If he survived long enough, new agonizing tattoos would be applied to him to show his success and complete dedication to his cause. He cast one final glance at the boy. "Have him go through the trial."

Both of the two bowed and exited the room.

The man went and sat down behind the table, looking over it, _even with the others that have been wronged like us and have joined us, we don't have the strength needed to win in an all out fight, the only choice is one last great battle to the death, to wound our enemies as much as we can and have our wounds lead to their death. _He picked up a book from the table that was bound in leather of various types and had three metal clasps and a small blue bookmark that could be seen within it. The spine and corners of the book were of strange black leather, while the rest of it had a brown color that was faded in a few places, often he could make out strange shadowy faces in agony gazing upwards at him upon its cover.

The man touched the book's cover, it wasn't like any leather he had ever felt in his life, it felt all but human to the touch. He slowly opened the book again, it had given him nightmares the likes of which he believed only the horrors of war could match, even so it potentially held the key to his peoples revenge, he needed to find the temple mentioned in the book, he needed to find the scroll mentioned in it. The book had come into his possession by accident; after his people found a trading caravan that was under attack they aided them under the guise of simple mercenaries.

The merchants were so glad for their aid that they gave them what little they could spare, it was one of the merchants that gave his people the book, it had come into his possession from a deceased distant relative and the man had been unable to sell it but mentioned that it should have value as it appeared rather ancient, the man valued his life more and was willing to part with it as a sign of gratitude for his people's intervention. The merchant didn't know how right he had been about the book it was written in an old language, his people had given him the book once they returned and he had been curious of what the book held and began to translate it.

The act had taken a great deal of time but the book had caught his attention and aroused his curiosity, as time went by and he made progress with the translation he realized just how old the book truly was, something from the lost ages. His people had found a few of the shrines mentioned in it and one of the temples, but it had been mostly destroyed, if he could find the others he knew the scroll that would deliver their vengeance would be there. As the man began working on translating the book, he made a promise to himself to burn the book before the final battle, it was to dangerous to allow to fall in other hands.

* * *

><p>Three people stood looking over documents in a dimly lit stone room, the first of them was Eiji Adachi, he had dark piercing eyes and a clean-shaven, baby-faced visage, his dark hair was worn casually unkempt, falling over his eyes. He looked to be the very picture of an attractive, sophisticated man in the prime of life, he wore a blue, full length military issue coat and slacks with black dress shoes. "This is how we're going to proceed." he tapped one of the documents on the table.<p>

A tall and lean man, that had a thin chinstrap of scruffy beard and his jovially spiky hair ending in a characteristic forelock as well as the rectangular spectacles framed in front of his hazel eyes smiled and scratched his scruffy beard. "Well I have the doctors for it so it's no problem on that front, with time we should be able to either get the staff on our side or place our own people inside. You sure you don't have any second thoughts?"

Eiji didn't flinch. "I'm sure of it, we proceed with the plan."

"Well alright! Then I hope you can lay the charm on her because a lot of this depends on you getting between the bed sheets with the girl."

"You just handle your part of the plan I will handle mine."

"Alright, alright, if you need any tips on charming the lady you know where to find me."

Eiji gritted his teeth. "Get out."

The man left the room giving the third person a warm and cheeky smile.

Eiji took the documents and then through them into the fireplace. "You don't agree with my choices Anzu?"

The last person of three was Anzu Mazaki, she had brown shoulder-length hair that was sectioned into two layers, consisting of a darker shade of brown inner layer, with the outer layer of a lighter shade. She was a woman in her early twenties with a moderately muscular and curvaceous build.

"I do not agree with your decision of helping that religious sect, our country doesn't need them, I cannot personally trust them."

"I will keep them in check, and they have their uses, for now at least." As Eiji was preparing to throw another document into the fire he stopped and took a closer look at it, the document contained a picture of his daimyo's family. The man, Masashige Kagawa, had buried his second wife not long ago and had been in a depression ever since, the man only had three daughters left after Yone drowned at sea, young Chiyuki had married into the Nagao family, a cursed bloodline, and been effectively cut of from the line of succession. That only left two women, Ruma with her green, well groomed hair that was always pulled back and revealed a furrowed, gloomy face, round blue eyes, set buried within their sockets that did little to betray the intelligence behind them, several moles were spread neatly around her small nose. The woman was smart, too smart for his plans, that left Enko as the only viable target, he quickly tossed the picture in the fire.

Eiji knew that what he was planning was treason but it was also the only way for his country to become great, for it to take its rightful place in the world, to make Tea a super power, but for that he and his group needed to get to power first. He was aware of his rather modest background; his great grandfather had been a farmer while his grandfather and father had both been professional soldiers for their country who only later took up farming after leaving the army, even with these facts the nobles still considered him a farmer.

Eiji tightened his fist, the plan was to marry one of the daimyo's daughters to help acquire a better political and social position, and his military career would help as would his good looks and charisma. Once married he and the others would drive his new wife made then gently help to cure her and make her into either the perfect wife or remove her from the picture, Taido Kida was already laying the necessary foundation in finding and placing the right people to aid in their plan, _a ploy worthy of the theatre, faking the murder of her doctor, servants and husband. _

But there were plenty of obstacles in his way to power, he need to seduce and marry Enko, the daimyo needed to be removed from scene, get some of nobles behind him, _well a few are willing, and I already have spies in other families._ Then there was Ruma to consider, her ideas of how the country should be ruled were preposterous to many, not to him though, he liked them but he would never declare them in public like she had, her staunch beliefs and independent attitude had made her an outcast, while not know to the public it had also cut her from the line of succession, none of the nobles wanted to support her and no one with any sort of political position wanted to marry her.

The greatest threat to his plan would be Norogumi Seki, an old friend of the previous daimyo and the guardian of the daimyo's young half-sister_, it's a miracle that the old man managed to get a woman pregnant, he all but through the country into chaos when it was announced nine years ago, at least he died with a smile on his face._

Norogumi, one of their greatest generals if not the greatest, he could all but see the man in front of him, white hair with parts hazel, short cut slightly revealed a round, anguished face. Wide blue eyes, set tightly within their sockets, smooth skin that complimented his cheekbones and left a fascinating memory of his luck in battles. A sword slash left a mark stretching from the top of the left cheek, first running towards thin lips and ending under her right eye from a battle fought in defense of their country.

There was something enticing about the man, perhaps it was a feeling of arrogance or perhaps it's simply a feeling of comfort. But nonetheless, people tended to stand straight around the man and thank him for his service; some hoped that he would one day be their leader. The man still had an incredible physique for his age, _fifty-five years and still going strong, _he had been recruited as a young boy by the previous daimyo and spent much of his life in the army; even with his strict attitude the nobles liked him. _He will be my greatest challenge to overcome. _

Once in power was when the second part of the plan began, to expand the country and begin to conquer other lands, the Land of Noddles, the Land of Waves would be a start. Benisu Island was a trade island between his country and the Lands of Wind and Fire, while no side had control over it, it was an important trade point and any side trying to gain control of it would have to fight with the other two. Nagi Island and O'uzu would fall with enough pressure, his main three targets were the part of the Land of Fire near his country; the second target would be the Land of Sea, the other great trade country that also traded with the countries across the ocean; the last target would be parts of the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers to help feed his people and sustain future conquests.

Tea country's fleet was already amongst the best, but its army was another matter, while the army had fought others and come out on top it couldn't yet mach the other larger countries, so he and his people had already begun to help improve it, luckily for him other likeminded people existed and had been increasing the army. The problem was that they still didn't have any shinobi of their own, the previous daimyos were against the creation of a ninja village in their country, _their reasons were understandable for the most part_. The first kages had divided the known world after the creation of the ninja villages and held considerable power in their countries, while starting a ninja village had its own dangers it also had plenty of advantages.

Sadly he would need ninjas for his plans, mercenaries and missing nin could easily switch sides but as long as the money was good they would stay loyal for the most part. He would need people loyal to his country, men and women who wouldn't be afraid to give their lives for it. Slowly he would aid in creating a ninja corps in his country to help in the future wars, with the situation in Kiri slowly deteriorating there was potential to recruit shinobi from there, other missing nins would also be approached with caution.

The other part would be to search for clans to swear fealty to his country, _surprisingly it looks like a clan from Konoha of places may yet join my country, and they do have such potential_. The new religious sect that he had aided in establishing themselves in the country was his ace in the hole, most people didn't know was that they also had their own special abilities similar to that of shinobi and would aid him in his ambitions.

He tossed more documents in the fire, before throwing the last two documents he looked at them and gritted his teeth, his country still had various government officials at assorted levels conspiring with pirates while at the same time they had nobles trying to ruin other nobles in the name of politics and screwing over their subjects out of greed. He was happy that at least the situation in the Land of Fire was similar, after meeting Kenijirou he was convinced that the man was insane and would lead the country to ruin, mostly likely a civil war was just around the corner and that would be the perfect time to strike at them, he would gain land from them while slowly supplying the warring sides with gold to prolong the conflict.

* * *

><p>A small six year old girl lay on her futon dressed in a white kimono; her skin was slightly red and sore all over, as she had been scrubbed viciously for her to be properly cleansed after her latest deed. The girl rose and climbed onto a chair near the window of her room overlooking the gardens of her home; she looked out and could see the sun setting in the distance, the gentle golden glow over the horizon signaled the night's rapid approach.<p>

She loved the autumn, when the leaves were tinted in yellow and burning red; together with the sun they formed a golden ocean with red patches whose beauty was unequaled. When the winds blew the leaves always looked to be dancing with each other, brown, red and gold all seemed drawn together for a dance, uncaring of their stature, before just as quickly it began it soon ended and they returned to their places. Throwing the leaves that had fallen on the ground made it look like it was raining with colors for her.

The girl looked at her own reflection in the window gently touching her own face, she was quite pretty, or so people had told her, a sharp inverted triangle face, thin lips, long thin eyebrows, onyx black hair that reached her lower back and two bangs that framed the sides of her face, pale white skin, _a sign of my higher blood, of purity_, and spring green eyes, _the best of both my parents_.

A knock drew her attention towards the door. "Enter."

A tall elderly woman with visible wrinkles on her face opened the door, she was carrying a white cup, the woman bowed slightly. "Good evening lady Kaguya." the woman greeted.

Kaguya smiled. "Good evening Urano-san." Urano Nishida had been with her family long before her birth and had been a constant in her own life.

Urano gently placed the cup on the night stand before bowing again and leaving, it didn't escape Kaguya's notice that the woman was wearing white gloves.

Kaguya made her way towards her night stand, the cup was porcelain and had designs of white pigeons sitting on the branches of a blooming sakura tree, she gently picked up the cup and returned to the chair by the window taking care not to spill the drink. She drank a bit of the warm milk as she let her gaze wander outside again, her thoughts were preoccupied with other matters.

All the people around her treated her more like a divinity then anything else, she was barely allowed to leave her home, the palace felt more like a prison to her, the only few times she left her home was for small occasions, to visit family members or friends of her parents. Walking through the large gardens around her home were one of the greatest joys of her life.

She knew her parents were of some importance, just how much she didn't know, she had over heard some of her parents friends talking about marriages for her, she wasn't even sure what it meant. Kaguya sighed and placed the cup near the window.

Everybody treated her so differently; there were so many rules she had to follow so many things she wasn't allowed to do. She wasn't allowed to touch the ground with her bare feet anymore, she wasn't allowed to play with some of the other children she had seen around the house as they were below her, and they would dirty her with their unwashed hands. She longed to play in the dirt and mud, the run through the gardens barefoot, the play with the other children she would see on the streets, she longed for freedom.

Kaguya took the cup and made her way towards the night stand placing it upon there then quickly changed into her sleep attire, the silk sheets had a silky feeling that was cool to the touch and felt smooth from the moment she lay down upon them, her pillows had only feathers from gooses, no chicken feathers, those were for commoners.

Kaguya smiled, she had at least one secret, she had managed to become friends with a young stable boy, his father tended the horses and was teaching him as well to one day do the same. They had played in secret before and had done the same today, Kazutoshi had quickly fled when they heard one of her caretakers approach, sadly she had been found in the stables amongst the hay and dust, the mocking laughter of her relatives and the cleansing bath she received had all been worth it, just those brief moments of fun made the rest seem so much brighter, she hoped she could see Kazutoshi again soon.

* * *

><p>Naruto moved from side to side on his new bed failing to fall asleep, it was different now, the bed, the room, the place, there were still days until he could return to his realm home. Trying to fall asleep, he searched for a memory of either Sayaka or Yukimura telling him a bed time story, like a lighting strike the memory struck him, Naruto closed his eyes recalling the memory.<p>

He laid snuggled with his blanket with Sayaka near his bead. "Could you please tell me a full story this time?"

Sayaka took on a thinking pose as she tapped her chin before finally smiling. "Well since it was your birthday, I suppose I can do that. And I have just the story for this occasions it's called The bear fooled by the fox."

Sayaka cleared her throat before leaning into her chair. "As that the story goes there was once a clever fox, like all foxes" she winked at him at this part and he giggled" the fox had searched the whole night for food and had found nothing. When day arrived, the fox neared the edge of a road and went to rest in a bush, thinking about what to do to find food."

"Sitting with its snout on its forwards paws the smell of fish reached its nose, then lifting its head out of the bush and looking around the road it spotted a wagon pulled by two bulls. Good! The fox thought. Here comes the food I've been waiting for. Once out of the bush it quickly reached the middle of the road where it began to play dead."

"When the wagon neared the fox, the farmer manning the bulls spotted the fox and thinking it was truly dead stopped the wagon and neared it. Looking at the body in bewilderment he said to himself. Now how did this fox die here?! What a beautiful scarf I can make for my wife from this fox's fur! Saying that he grabbed the fox by the head and dragged it towards the wagon where he threw it atop the fish before starting back on his trip."

"The farmer walked alongside his bulls and spurred them to walk faster, so he could get home quickly and take the fox's fur. Unknown to him even as the bulls started walking again the fox had begun to push the fish out of the wagon with its paws. The farmer spurred the bulls, the wagon jolted and the fish fell from it. After the sneaky fox threw out a great amount of fish on the road, it jumped out of the cart, and with great haste began to gather the fish on the road. Once gathered it in a pile, it took it to its lair to eat as it was still very hungry. As soon at it began eating, a bear showed up as well."

"Well hello dear friend, look what great pile of fish you have, give me a few as well as I haven't eaten one in long time and want to remember the taste."

"Why don't you keep your tongue in your mouth old friend; I didn't work this much for someone else to eat it all. If you really want to eat, go and dip your tail in a lake, like me, and you'll have fish to eat."

"Please teach me old friend, as I don't know how to catch fish. The fox smiled then and said. My dear old friend! Don't you know that need will take you to where there's no will and will teach you what you don't even think is possible? Listen friend, you want to eat fish? Go tonight at the lake at the edge of the forest, dip your tail in the water and stay still without moving until the next day, then pull as hard as you can towards the shore and you'll pull out a great deal of fish, maybe just as much as I pulled out."

"The bear saying nothing else ran with great speed to the lake from the edge of the forest and dipped his tail inside. That night a cold wind blew, so much that the tongue would freeze in the mouth and the ash from beneath the fire. The water from the lake froze and caught the bear's tail tight in its grip. After a while, the bear, being unable to take the pain from his tail and the cold pulled at once with all his might, and the poor bear, instead of pulling out fish found that he was without a tail!"

"He started howling and jumping around from the pain, angry at the fox for deceiving him, he went to kill it in a fight straight away. But our clever fox knew how to avoid the bear's wrath, it left its burrow and hid in the trunk of a tree nearby, and once it caught sight of the bear's tail it started yelling. Come now old friend! Did the fish eat your tail, or where you to greedy and wanted no fish to remain in the lake?"

"The bear hearing that he was being mocked was even more enraged and charged quickly at the tree, but with the mouth of the opening being tight, the bear could not fit inside. Then he searched for a branch with a hook, and began poking with it through the trunk to pull the fox out. But when it caught the fox's leg, it shouted. Pull you bastard, I don't care, because you're pulling on the tree. Then when the branch caught the tree it yelled. Ouch old friend! Don't pull or you'll break my leg! The bear tried but it was all for nothing, sweat ran down his fur, but he couldn't pull the fox from the tree trunk. And that's how the bear was fooled by the fox."

"So the fox won in the end!"

Sayaka nodded. "Yes cleverness won out in the end."

"Was it a boy or a girl?"

"Such things do not matter Naruto-kun, what's important is what you have up here" she gently tapped his head, "and not what you have between your legs."

"Um why didn't the fox share his fish?"

"It's alright to share your food with others Naruto-kun, however when that other person refuses to work for their meal and want to simply eat from others, well that's less then acceptable. Would you like it if after working hard someone who had refused to do so came to you and wanted to eat your food?"

"No way!"

"And there you go, now I do believe its time someone went to sleep."

* * *

><p>Goro Inogashira sighed as he looked over the building plans scattered on the table again, it was madness what he was helping to build, he knew such as thing should never exist. He shook his head as he ran his finger through his long white beard, the amounts of money however kept his mouth shut and opinions to himself. Goro knew that he would never sleep another peaceful night in his life knowing what was being built here, what was being done in this place of madness, his only consolation was that his family would be taken care of because of his sacrifice, once this project was done he would take his family and leave for the country, Goro would send them away sooner if his client showed more signs of madness, he would travel as far away as he could for he knew that if his employer ever became daimyo the country would fall apart.<p>

The place of decadence that had been created here was bad enough making even some of the more unhinged individuals blush and stammer, but the plans for the expansion of the place sent chills down his spine. Slave pens were being built underneath and existing castle, dark cells to hold the hold the slaves with a small channel running through it where the guards would pour water and food down the channel and the slaves would scoop at them with their hands as it passed, being force to daub it into their mouths like pigs. In his dreams, he could see the people elbowing each other, pushing the weaker ones out of the way.

Already he had heard talk of slave auctions, he had to stop himself from throwing up, there was talk of buying young children, of inspecting slaves like common horses. Goro had heard whispers of how his client wanted to send troops to fetch young good looking children and other people for the place. From what he had heard there was a man who was helping to smuggle drugs in the country from the Land of Sea, and anything else that was needed, and with the man's service to his client a protection from Konona shinobi came with it as well. The drugs would be both consumed by the future clients and used on the slave to help break them, a few were said to put people to sleep and would be used to capture future slaves.

Goro washed his face with cold water, slapping himself a few times, his hands were trembling but he pushed through it calmed himself down before returning to look at the plans again, his client wanted to create a great pleasure district, to let the nobles of the region indulge in whatever perverse desire they had, the one that existed was far too small and tame for the man's taste. Friezes and statues would be placed through out the district depicting the most lewd and vile acts, while others would decorate the fronts of every establishment. His client insisted that the place have iron cages hung above the doors of the establishments with which were slaves either flagellated one another or performed acts of coitus that he desired.

His client's dream was that strolling from one house to the other house would be the flower of high society, all dressed as they saw fit, the man dreamed of naked silver-masked courtesans would run around the place. Already there were covered palanquins in the district carried by slaves that helped transport those who wished to keep their identities secret.

Goro knew he had done the right thing when he had sent his family to one of the green zones of the country, the troops would travel there to fetch slaves they wouldn't dare such a thing, not yet anyway. He knew he needed to keep his daughter as well hidden as he could before he left the country; he would take his family to the Land of Iron that would be the only safe place for his family.

_Why must the daimyo's have such an insane son, worse one whose chances of getting the throne are slowly rising with the passage of time? _

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><p>A short man with a square face, long light brow hair, with small eyebrows that looked to have been each shaved at a half point and brown business suit, with a beige shirt and a purple tie looked through the documents on his desk with one hand, while sipping wine with the other, the smell of cigars permeated the air in the small room.<p>

_Ah, life is good, and with me helping one of the fire daimyo's sons it's only going to get better. _

His shipping company's profits had soured once again this year, almost no one knew of the nature of his cargo and those who did kept their mouths shut, whether it was thanks to a bribe or the threat of sword through the gut.

The man scowled. _Look's like the rebels are acting up again in the Land of Sea, the drug shipments better not take a blow if the know what's good for them_. He rubbed his chin. _If the catch them I can get a good price for the lot, slave's are still an expensive merchandise, and lucky for me slavery is making a comeback. _

The man got up from his chair and walked to the window removing the curtains and opening the window. The view of the docks was splendid from his office, he could see countless ships there loading and unloading cargo, carriages moved about the place and seagulls flew over everything. Every since he was a small boy growing up on a mud infested pig farm on a small hill overlooking a harbor he had liked looking at the ships. For him they all looked like money, everything about the docks reeked of money to him. He had sworn to climb his way of the mud hole he had been born in, the youngest of seven brothers, the smallest of them all, the so called runt of the litter, the one no one believed capable doing anything much less of what he talked about.

_The old man and the others laughed when I couldn't push the plow right, how my arms were to skinny to work on the farm, how I was weak…_

He removed a large cigar from his breast pocket smelling it before lighting it. _Well I showed them all._ He loved money from a young age, he knew it was the key to escaping the pig farm, his father had been an idiot, the memories of the long hours of work put in and then selling everything for a few coins to those fat merchants who would barter to the last nickle had plagued his dreams. After seeing that scene he knew there was a better way to make a living, and easier way, he become obsessed with making deals to get the most money out of everything.

It had been a long a climb up the ladder to get to where he was with it's own perils, he had run away from home when a merchant had offered to hire him as his servant boy after he had managed to swindle the man out of a few coins down by the docks. A smile crossed the man's face when he remembered his teacher, the man had taught him much in their time together. How to barter like a true merchant, how to negotiate with pirates, how to find the right kind of ship captain that was willing to smuggle a little something extra for the right price, the kind of grease need to get the wheals going, some wanted a bit of money, others wanted something else, a paid trip to a whore house, some wine, a few drugs, a small child here and there.

He chuckled the look on his teacher's face when he had managed to buy his men and turn them against the man had been priceless, he had taken his teacher's business in one swoop and sent the old man down to the bottom of the ocean with some nice new shoes. His dear old teacher had bleed like a pig when the men stabbed him and he bleed like so many wounds, it reminded him of a wild boar he along with his father and brother had killed when young, his old teacher ended up in the ocean with rocks tied to his feet at the end.

_And then I was the one putting the screws on my old man, ah seeing the looks on my family's faces when I the saw me at the docks with wearing a suit is something I'll never forget. The pleasure of fucking the wives of my dear brothers while they slaved away at work was just such a nice touch, it sadly ruined a few marriages when they found out, but it was no skin of my back. The idiots thought they could kill me after that, good old Hachiro always liked the pigs, well he didn't seem to like them that much when I feed him to them. That dumb as a rock Eishi thought he could get past my men and beat me up like when he were children, _he laughed_, oh poor stupid bastard, I had my men work on him, beating the crap out the big lump for a week before I allowed him to die. And snickering Shunji who always had a joke to make whenever I got scowled, I managed to get a goo price when I sold him into slavery, after cutting out his tongue of course._

As much as he liked how life was going for him he wanted more, the taxes in the Land of Tea were getting harder to evade, the Land of Noddles was to poor for his taste and even with his friends in fire country he couldn't do much there, no what he needed was a place of his own. The man walked towards a map of the Elemental Nations looking it over as he had done before, there were quite a few options before him.

_Benisu Island is out of the question, as great as that place is with the trade and deals happening there. The place has far to many factions that are well entrenched, to drive them out is impossible with making wasting everything I have,_ his eyes shifted across the map to the destroyed Land of Blaze_, it's ripe for the taking but needs to much money poured into it, even back when people were there it didn't have a lot of trade going on._

The man's eyes moved across the map again, _Nagi Island and O'uzu Island both looked like good places, they were far away from the mainland with some trade happening there, but sadly their sour relationships with the Land of Tea meant that trade between the two was all but inexistent and with Tea being a trade power that wouldn't do_.

He had considered at one point taking one of the islands of the Land of Sea, but realized how stupid that would have been, with all the business and strife going on there. More and more it looked like the last place, the Land of Waves would be his choice, it had ports, was removed from the mainland, even if not by much, it was close to the Land of Fire and his friends in the country could help turn a blind eye to what he would do in Wave. He needed to start strangling trade there to soften up the place for the eventual take over, with how things were going with the daimyo's son maybe he could even get some leaf nin to help out, it would make it easier to smuggle the drugs and slave into fire country.

_Yes, this may just be the right choice after all; I'll still keep on eye on Benisu Island and see if a last ditch effort can't be made there_. He chuckled again. _Gato Kenpachi, daimyo of the Land of Waves just rolls of the tongue._

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><p>Review away<p>

Constructive criticism or pointing out possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.

Check out the poll on my page and the forum where the other polls are.

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><p>Chapter 5 – last edit on 4.04.2014 posted on 4 04 2014. Next chapter, next month.<p>

A bit of a shorter chapter this time, the chapter had a lot more parts with Naruto and one with his Anbu guard but the parts with Naruto got too big and were moved to the next chapter that will focus on Naruto almost exclusively. I wrote a scene with Naruto's Anbu guard since chapter 3 and still haven't gotten around to placing it in a chapter.

It always bugged me how in Naruto/Fairy Tail crossovers very few people bring this point up. If Naruto produces chakra from within his body and the mages have magic because they absorbed it from the atmosphere, those two things should clash like hell and end up messing him up on the inside, don't get me started on any potential children. I still like those crossovers; they just require a bit more suspension of disbelief then normal.

Not sure why ROOT agents had their midriff exposed like that, it seemed stupid, so that got cut here. Apparently ROOT members wore the standard cloak and mask of the Konohagakure ANBU, and yet they didn't don't have an actual standardized uniform like the others. I'm asking why not? It doesn't seem to make that much sense to me, you tell them to kill their emotions, yet allow them to customize their armor and give them masks similar to the regular Anbu, which if the two sides meet would know that the other is a fake.

Can any one tell me that Danzo wouldn't think of something like what I wrote, it would keep Konoha's coffers nice and full and its shinobi employed, peace time sounds great but for the army that means a lot of less work, and considering that Konoha, from what we know, lives off missions (it isn't mentioned whether the daimyo helps fund the place) if Danzo wanted to keep Konoha strong and employed he would need to create conflict for it, at least to a degree. Destroying a national monument sounds extreme but it could rally people to a cause and get them angry at the leadership that allowed it to happen. If the Statue of Liberty got blown up how would people react?

It got dark there at the end didn't it? The two parts after Kaguya were added recently. I decided to add a bit more to the guy's back's story seeing as how that isn't done all that often.

I highly recommend the Gotrek and Felix series.

The story is called Ursul pacalit de vulpe de Ion Creanga, or The Bear fooled by the Fox. I translated it so don't be to surprised by the bad quality.


	6. Chapter 6 : Advancing Plans

**I do not own Naruto**

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – _normal thoughts_  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><em><strong>Listen<strong>_** – ****_biju, higher being thoughts_**

**Chapter 6 : Advancing Plans**

As Naruto awoke he had a hard time hiding the smile on his face, he had a few plans to deal with his situation and had visited the people he cared about and that actually cared about him. He closed his eyes, remembering what he had learned and practiced in the god realm, breathing slowly he began to focus on doing the first chakra exercise, he remembered that he had first managed to unlock his chakra during the attack on him when he had tapped into Yukimura's biju chakra.

Once he was done with the first exercise he quickly moved onto the second exercise, each took from ten minutes to half an hour. After he finished the second exercise Naruto placed one of his hands on the side of the wall near his bed making sure that it was just between the bed and the wall and wouldn't be visible from above the bed or from below it, a small sensation of flowing water ran through his hand before it disappeared.

He smiled under his blanket, the place where he had placed his hand now had five small white spots there that were invisible to all but the greatest sensors and magic users, the spots formed a small magic mark that would allow him to sense anybody who was hidden nearby and alert him when the seals began to flare up so he could have a head's up for when the Hokage decided to spy on him, the last part was that they allowed Yukimura to study the seals in his room in more in-depth then before.

Naruto quickly washed up and ate then left to set some of his own plans into motion, Sayaka and Yukimura's words still echoed through his head. _Build in the need for flexibility in your plans in advance because of the old adage that 'no plan survives contact with the enemy'._

First he began to make his way towards the market district of Konoha, he had all but forgotten about the people's glares that now returned in full force and seemed a constant companion through out the village. He shrugged the glares off, remembering what Yukimura had taught him; _by acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility_. _The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone_. He still liked Sayaka's words more. _Unlike a sword, scorn has only the bite you give it._

With his return he began to notice small things about the buildings in Konoha, almost every building looked quite odd, at least compared to the photos he had seen in the books found in the library of Yukimura's god realm. He intentionally got lost on the way to the market to be able to wander around a bit, this way it would help to paint him as more of a small scatter brain child to his Anbu guard.

As he walked around he could spot small cracks in some of the buildings, quite a few buildings had the multi tiered cake design of the building where his apartment was located, most of building roofs were red, blue, yellow and a few green colored, with the same thick cables on them.

A wind blew and Naruto coughed from the dust, _why does Konoha still have dirt roads? What do they do when it rains, mud would be everywhere, is it so hard to pave the roads? _Walking around he also saw a few people with a strange four-pointed star with a red and white fan symbol embedded into the centre of it, their attire still consisted of the standard Konoha-nin attire with the strange symbol emblazoned on the shoulders instead of the regular symbol. _Are they guards of some sort?_

When he finally arrived in the market district he paused for a moment seizing everything up, afterwards he looked through some of the different shops, keeping an innocent look on his face at all times, he took a keen interest in those that sold food, after quietly observing the people's reactions to him there he found a place and simply observed all of the different shops that sold food, each looked to have their own brands either home made or brought from outside Konoha, the issue of trade caravans was something he put aside to investigate for later, he need to think and choose his targets. If the Hokage ever asked why he would just stand there observing people, he would respond that he liked seeing the hustle and bustle of the market, how it fascinated him as he had never seen so many people.

After observing the people Naruto believed he had found a few potential targets and he began the second part of his plan, he in the coming day made his way towards the shops and bought a few products from each shop and made a mental mark, taking notes if the people overcharged him and if they switched the products he bought, a few shops actually had either the owner or an employ gather the products rather then letting the customer do so. After he bought something from each shop he made his way back to his apartment, comparing the different people's reactions to him in their shops. He made sure to visit the market regularly and observe the people there again to help build up a credible lie. It pained him that after finding a small book shop he couldn't enter the place, he looked at the place and swore to return one day to it.

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><p>One night the Hokage came by and took him to Ichiraku's Ramen stand for dinner, he briefly wondered if his Anbu guard informed the Hokage of the quality of the food he had purchased, to his surprise he found out that the ramen was rather good and ended up eating five servings, amusing the Hokage with his appetite.<p>

The owner Teuchi and Ayame acted almost warm towards him, it was an improvement from the constant glares and it did make him feel better. The Hokage acted the elderly and loving grandfather role like a master; he asked about how he felt in his new home and told him stories about when he was younger as well.

When they were done eating the Hokage escorted him back to the apartment, wished him good night and then left. That night after washing and getting into bed, he did his chakra exercises then pretending to be asleep gently touched the magic mark on the wall and sensed the Anbu in the shadows.

He turned a few times thinking about the day and trying to determine if there was some sort of under lining reason for the Hokage's actions_. He does appear to be the grandfatherly figure he portrays, perhaps the attack actually forced him to take a greater interest in me, yet I still can't help but wonder if there isn't something more behind all of his actions. Even out of the orphanage the people treat me in a similar manner; their glares are ever present, slowly isolating me. And then he arrives one of the few people who doesn't treat me as such._ His eyes snapped open as a thought struck him; he stared straight where the Anbu was hidden in the shadows, blinking Naruto quickly got out of bed and went to the bathroom faking a need to cover for his sudden awakening; then quickly returned to his bed.

_Could the owners of the ramen stand be working for the Hokage? He takes me there and I just happen to find other people who don't look at me like the other villagers do, coincidently it's the Hokage who is responsible for the meeting. It would certainly help to create some fond memories with the Hokage and bind me emotionally to him, if the people at the stand work for the Hokage they could further help to keep an eye on me when he's busy and later report anything suspicious._

He wanted to scratch his head so badly. _This reminds of playing shogi with Yukimura, I could be paranoid and they are just good people, but with ninja's, chances are that there's a second side to it, if not a third, fourth and fifth as well._ He mentally sighed._ It doesn't matter the trip was a lucky event after all and I can work it in my plans, in fact. _He turned on side of the bed and hid his face by covering it with a hand to hide the small smile upon it_. Maybe a few more trips would help after all. _

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><p>The next few days passed rather quickly, Naruto had formed a small pattern, he would wake up and do the chakra exercises, wash up and eat; after that we would travel around Konoha, often stopping by the market, the Hokage visited him and the two went to the ramen stand again. It still irked him that he couldn't train in his fighting styles but with the Anbu being ever present he couldn't risk it. With his test he couldn't yet return to the god realm even with the week passing, instead Naruto decided to visit the Hokage and advance his own plans, what awaited him there surprised him and through things into chaos more then he expected.<p>

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><p>The room Naruto was in had a hardwood floor with books, scrolls and various items filled the shelves near the walls, four cabinets could be seen in the back of the room on either side, a large wooden desk could be found near the room's end with the Hokage standing behind it with a paper file in his hand, large stacks of paper were placed on the desk in piles.<p>

"Really old man?" Naruto asked surprised. _So he's guiding me on that path already._

The Hokage gave him a warm grandfatherly smile. "Yes Naruto-kun I can enroll you into the shinobi academy, a new class cycle starts in a few months."

"But aren't I too young? The caretakers at the orphanage never mentioned the shinobi academy" He asked in a curious tone. _Let's hear the excuse he has for this._

The Hokage rubbed his chin a thoughtful manner. "Well, the academy usually starts around the age of seven or eight, but if you sign up early you wouldn't have to be alone all time and you could make friends there."

Naruto smiled and nodded. _That's almost three years the others will have on me, it'll be an uphill battle there, it does however sound that he's doing it for good reasons at the very least, no matter how badly it may yet end. _He shifted uncomfortably. "Old man what I am going to learn there?"

The Hogake kept his warm smile. "The main goal there is to teach how to be a ninja Naruto-kun."

Naruto shifted uncomfortably again. "Will I learn to read and write there?" he asked shyly.

The Hokage looked at him puzzled. "Well yes."

"Can you have someone teach me some stuff before the academy starts?" He asked in a meek tone.

The Hokage furrowed his eyebrows and had a disappointed look on his face. "Why Naruto-kun? That would give you an unfair advantage compared to the children."

"I'm not a cheater!" Naruto yelled, before sinking into his chair and speaking in a voice close to crying. "Its just that….at the orphanage people called me stupid and didn't teach me how to do it like the others, they would give up half way through. If I meet some of the other kids there they could tease me and say mean things about me, then I couldn't make friends. So if I knew how to read and write like the rest I wouldn't look stupid if they said anything about it."

The Hokage's face took a more thoughtful look though a flash of sadness could have been seen across the man's face. "I see, well perhaps I could help out just a bit with that Naruto-kun, not to much we wouldn't to give you an unfair advantage."

"Really?" he asked in a relived tone of voice. _Unfair advantage my ass, chances are those kids already know how to read and write. _

The Hokage nodded and Naruto smiled and wiped his eyes. "Thanks old man, I just wanna know the basics, you can't built something if you don't have a good foundation."

The Hokage gave him a surprised sharp look. "So true Naruto-kun"

_Shit, I can't believe I let that slip!_ Naruto put on a goofy smile. "Yeah I'm pretty wise."

The Hokage kept a sharp eye on Naruto. "Oh and you came up with that on your own Naruto-kun?"

Naruto squirmed a bit then scratched the back of his head in an embarrassed manner. "Nah I kinda heard it around the village."

The Hokage's face slowly softened. "Well who ever said that is a wise person Naruto-kun."

_It looks like I'm safe_. "Hey old man can you show me around the village and tell me about the buildings and stuff? I heard they all got a cool history."

"Well I do have some work to do."

"Oh." Naruto lowered his gaze to the ground.

"But I can take a small break for you Naruto-kun."

"Thanks old man you're the best." Naruto told him in a cheerful manner.

"Just remember that I won't be able to do this every time alright Naruto-kun?"

"You got it old man." He answered with a large smile on his face.

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><p>The Hokage looked rather happy Naruto noted talking about the different buildings in the village; a few of them actually had some interesting history. He seemed melancholic when talking about the Hokage Monument and especially about things related to the second Hokage. Naruto did learn a few interesting things, such as that the buildings atop the Hokage Mountain that included an archive library with information on all of its shinobi, past and present, all the missions their shinobi had undertaken and shelters for the population in case of an attack.<p>

Another interesting point was the Konoha Aviary that was a building in Konoha where messenger birds such as hawks delivered messages, and also rested after delivery. The aviary was a circular building built into the top of a tall tree with a spiral staircase. It consisted of multiple bird cages lining the walls where the birds stayed. The Hokage seemed rather fond of the building; apparently the Shodaime had a passion for falconry and the Nidaime helped to improve the building.

The Hokage told him how he and some old friend used to clean the bird cages and how at one point they were both covered in bird poop after rattling them by accident and how and old man named Hanasaki that took care of the birds scolded him. The Hokage and both his shinobi team and genin team later returned and cleaned the bird cages as well. For his part Naruto looked to absorb everything in with wide eyed enthusiasm, while gently leading the Hokage towards the market place. When they reached the market place after entering it to his rather great annoyance the Hokage did realize that Naruto had led them there.

"Naruto-kun, do you know how we ended up here?" The Hokage asked in normal tone of voice but he could detect and underlining tone of curiosity.

Naruto laughed a little. "Um well, my feet just kinda walked here on there own." He tried to walk further into the market place but the Hokage was standing still not moving a single inch.

"Oh, that's interesting, why do you think that is?" The Hokage asked bringing his pipe to his lips.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and looked towards the middle of the market place. "I kinda come here a lot"

"Oh, do you find it interesting for some reason Naruto-kun?"

"What does interesting mean?" he asked confused.

The Hokage chuckled "Does it have something that's got your attention or that's made you curious about it."

"Um well" Naruto turned around looking at the place, _I need to buy more time_, he looked around and could see people looking at the two of them, _it's still not enough_. "It's just that there are so many people here, I haven't seen so many people in one place like this in my life, and their all coming and going all the time" He shuffled his feet, "I don't feel so alone when I'm here. "

The Hokage smiled "You see Naruto-kun that's why it will do you good to go to the academy"

"Yeah, your right old man" _A good excuse but I need him to walk further through the market place, I could blame the lack of important buildings here but I should have planned better for this. _

"Naruto-kun, how would you like me to show you one of my favorite spots in the village?"

"Yes" _Damn I guess we're leaving this place, I wonder where this spot of his is located?_

The Hokage smiled. "I can also show you a bit more of the village from there."

"Where are we going?" He asked curiously.

"Up on the Hokage Monument"

"What?" Naruto looked towards the Hokage mountain, they where a fair distance away and climbing the stairs would take a while considering his short legs. "Old man I'll fall asleep before we get up there!"

The Hokage chuckled. "Don't worry Naruto-kun we won't be going the normal way."

"Huh, how then?" _Is there some secret passage?_

The Hokage emptied his pipe and placed in a pocket of his robes and then gently picked Naruto up with his left arm and brought him closer to his shoulder. "Now hold on, I'm not exactly a spring chicken anymore."

Naruto tightened his grip on the Hokage's shoulder, he gave a final look through the market place; a few people had seen them after all. _Its better then nothing, now_ _what is he going to do?_ Naruto felt a strong wind around him then saw a few leafs in front of him before he blinked and found himself on top of a roof. "What happened?" he asked bewildered.

"Just a little jutsu Naruto-kun, don't worry."

_That was a simple jutsu?_

"Now let's get some exercise for these old bones of mine." The Hokage then quickly jumped of the building and Naruto closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, the Hokage looked to be jumping all over the place, when he finally stopped and Naruto opened his eyes he found himself looking at a forest and he also could see several buildings in front of the forest. _That must be must be archive library. _

The Hokage gently let Naruto back down. "Turn around Naruto-kun."

When Naruto did turn around he was completely shocked at what he saw, the entirety of Konoha lay stretched out before him, he felt like was back on top of the mountain with Yukimura and Sayaka. Hundreds of houses could be seen out in the distance; _how many thousand of people live here?_ He could see buildings of all sizes with different colored roofs, large patches of green trees seemed to be mixed in with the buildings; while large forests surrounded everything in a protective embrace, farther into the distance he could still see the large walls that defended Konoha and more forests surrounded it as well. He wasn't sure what the Hokage wanted him to feel by bringing him to this place, _humble perhaps_, well he defiantly felt that, but it was more. _To gain my freedom I'll to overcome all of these people?_ As the vastness of Konoha lay sprawled out before him he couldn't help but smile. _I accept the challenge._

"What do you think Naruto-kun?"

"It so huge!" he answered in a bewildered tone of voice while flailing his arms about.

"Yes, yes it is." The Hokage answered nostalgia clear in his voice.

"I never imagined it was this big old man."

"It helps to put things in perspective" the Hokage looked around the area they where at "this was always my favorite spot in the village as a child Naruto-kun." The Hokage smiled sadly. "As Hokage it is my duty to protect all the people that live in this village," he raised both of his hands "all of their lives are my responsibility."

_That certainly is something_. "That sounds like a lot old man."

"Yes it is a great responsibility" The Hokage's face seemed to brighten as he smiled "but also a great joy. To those who possess the Will of Fire, everyone is family. The desire to protect one's family builds thicker and stronger bonds between each and everyone in the village."

_What is he leading me to_? "What's the Will of Fire old man?"

"This is what gives Konoha's shinobi the strength to continue fighting against all odds, building willpower and strength of character. It is symbolic of the hopes and dreams of the previous generation being passed to the next." The Hokage gestured to the whole of Konoha again. "This is a place where every shinobi are born, raised, grow old and fight to protect their home. These people are precious to me. We share a home, we share a life, and though we may not share tied of blood, they are precious to me, they are my family."

"Everyone is family?" _I wonder if that you consider even the orphanage caretakers that tried to get rid of me and that you made disappear family as well? _

"Yes my boy everyone, I believe that if the Will of Fire is embraced by everyone, the village will be alright no matter what happens."

Naruto smiled and nodded then looked out into the distance. _Not bad he played on my supposed desire for a family to get me to want the title while indoctrinating me, well played. _He cast a quick look at the Hokage who was still looking out into the distance._ Quite a lot of feelings the old man is going through, who knows how many things he has had to do to keep this place standing. Best to change the subject for now._ "Hey old man what's that large funny building in the distance with the red tiles and large things near it." He asked pointing into the distance.

"Ah, that near Naruto-kun is Kikyō castle; those two large things are called shibi and are shaped like shachihoko, that place is where some important guests stay during their visits to our village"

"Oh" Naruto nodded. _Well that's one interesting place to remember._

"Now, there in the distance, that large pink building is the Konoha Hospital that serves the medical needs of both ninja and other people in our village."

Naruto nodded again. "That's a nice place" he rubbed his stomach, "they had really good food there." As Naruto looked on he saw steam rising from one part of the village, it was small but still visible. "Hey old man, what's that place in the distance where smoke's rising?"

"That isn't smoke Naruto-kun, its steam."

"Like the one from ramen?" He asked a puzzled look on his face.

The Hokage chuckled again, he looked Naruto noted, rather happy. "Something like that Naruto-kun, that over there is the Konoha Hot Springs and it's the public bath of Konoha, those are some good eyes you have Naruto-kun."

Naruto ignored the last part staring at the hot springs. _Huh I guess shinobi do need to relax as well and building something like that here would certainly help. _Naruto looking to his left and right noticed two parts of the forests that were fenced off**, **inside one he could make out a river and a tower located in the exact centre; the forest's radius was about ten kilometers he guessed. "Hey old man what's with the fences there?"

The Hokage looked in the direction Naruto pointed at. "Ah the one over there, that is the Zero training ground also known as the No-Hunting District and it is a wildlife preserve for rare and unusual animals. It was used for tests for our shinobi but this was discontinued because the field was turned into a nature preserve."

"Uh shinobi have do go through tests?" _Sounds like an interesting place, they may have patrols there and killing and skinning an animal from there may get me into trouble if caught, perhaps I could simply explore the place and check out some of the plants and fruits there._

The Hokage nodded. "Yes to show their skills."

"Like how much ass they can kick right?" He asked smacking a fist into an open palm while keeping a goofy smile on his face.

"Exactly Naruto-kun" the Hokage replied chuckling "now the second one there you must promise me not to approach." The Hokage finished in a serious tone.

"Why?" he asked curiously. Well that place has my interest now.

"It's dangerous Naruto-kun and I need you to promise me that you won't approach it on your own."

"Is it important to keep your promises?" _Let's see how this plays out I could push a bit farther with this if it succeeds._

"Yes Naruto-kun it's very important." The Hokage continued in the same serious tone.

"Would you ever break a promise old man?" He asked shyly. _Come on say it._

"No Naruto-kun I wouldn't."

_Perfect_ "Alright I promise then."

The Hokage nodded "That is the Forty-Fourth training ground, its primary role is to serve as a testing ground for the skills our shinobi posses. It is a very dangerous place, filled with hordes of flora and fauna, often gigantic and poisonous, within the forest are several large and deadly creatures such as leeches, tigers, and bears."

"That sounds scary old man." _Well that's definitely another point of interest I wonder if I can observe some of the tests there or sneak in and gather some supplies while investigating the place._

"As long as you don't go inside it should be fine Naruto-kun."

"But I'll have to go inside eventually, right?"

"Only when you're a trained shinobi Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded and returned his gaze to the village, he squinted his eyes so that he could make out a large rather old looking castle near the edges on the village. "Hey old man who lives there, other important people?" he asked pointing at the castle.

The Hokage seemed to grimace. "That is the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility or Konoha's jail, it is a place where bad people who have committed serious crimes work off their debt to society."

"Like the caretakers from the orphanage?"

"Far worse Naruto-kun."

"There are worse people then them?" he asked in a shocked and worried tone.

"Yes, quite worse, but don't worry Naruto-kun that's why shinobi exist, the help defend others against such people."

"So their like heroes?" _Smooth manipulation on your part there old man._

"Exactly Naruto-kun"

Naruto returned his gaze to Konoha and saw a small trail of smoke began that began to rise close to a wall. "What's that old man?"

The Hokage let out a sigh and rubbed his temples, "That Naruto-kun is the Konoha Ninja Tool Research Facility, the Detached Office; it is a research building facility run by a man named Iō with his assistant Shōseki. The facility specializes in the making of new weapons for our shinobi to wield. The station was originally located more inward, however it was forced to relocate to the outskirts of the village due to the random explosions which like you can see occur, though Iō claims are challenges during his inventing."

_That can't be the only one_. "It looks small."

"Well it's not the only one, Iō is more eccentrics and he was allowed to build his own shop and experiment there to his heart's content."

_Oh! So there is another one, could it be tied to the Anbu? _Slowly Naruto got closer to the edge of the statue and looked down noticing the word Fire painted on the roof of a building.

"Careful now Naruto-kun."

"I'm ok old man, but whats that the building with the funny marking on it."

"Ah" the Hokage stepped closer the edge as well "that it the Hokage Residence, usually it is the mansion occupied by the Hokage during their reign, it is located close to both the Academy, that you can see over there" the Hokage pointed to a building "and the Hokage Monument."

While Naruto had seen it before and appeared quit large he had never seen from above. "It looks huge." _I wonder if it contains any important scrolls. _

"It is one of the largest buildings in Konoha; it was built during the reign of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju."

"So do you live there?"

"For the moment."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well I do have my own house and room, usually the Hokage lives there, but it is not a strict requirement. Hashirama-sama lived at his clan compound more often then there, Tobirama sensei lived there a lot more, I myself divided my time between there and my other home for a period, the Yondaime still kept his other home as well."

_The Yondaime's home could still exist?_ "Huh, so you keep another house because you could get kicked out of this one when someone else comes along and get's the title?"

The Hokage chuckled. "Precisely Naruto-kun. Making plans are we?"

Naruto laughed and rubbed the back if his head "Maybe, but I wouldn't want to see you end up on the streets, so its good to know you got a place to go to, ohh you could have taken my apartment if not."

The Hokage smiled. "That very generous of you Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked returned his gaze to the forest around Konoha "Old man is the Yondaime's house still standing?"

"No, sadly it was destroyed during the Kyuubi attack."

"Oh, I thought people kept it as a reminder of how cool he was."

"Perhaps if it had not been lost."

"Oh yeah that reminds me old man, I saw some people with a weird red and white symbol on their cloths through the village, who are they?"

The Hokage's tone became a bit more formal. "They are the Konoha Military Police Force; it is the judicial organization in Konoha, think of them as the people who help keep the peace here in our village"

Naruto nodded. _So I was right about them_. "Like guards?"

"Something of the sort Naruto-kun, its purpose is to maintain the law in the village; they are regarded as shinobi who monitor their fellow shinobi."

"Oh, so they created it?"

A small scowl graced the Hokage's lips before it quickly disappeared, "No it was founded by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju."

"Your sensei!" he interrupted.

"Yes Naruto-kun, it was given to the Uchiha as a sign of trust and good faith between the Senju and themselves. It consists of mostly Uchiha clan members. The current leader of the organization is Fugaku Uchiha who is also known as the Uchiha clan head."

"So they send all the bad people to jail?" He pointed at the one from earlier.

"In part yes, but they also have a prison built in the organization's building as well; the one you saw is where some of the worst end up in."

"Oh" _That's an interesting tid bit._

"Now the symbol you saw is the symbol of the organization, it is a four-pointed star with the crest of the Uchiha clan embedded into the centre, a red and white fan."

Naruto nodded and sat down; the sun was setting and colored everything in an orange light. "Its really nice here, old man."

"Yes, it is Naruto-kun."

* * *

><p>Naruto smiled as the person who was teaching him the basics about reading and writing left, the person was just as professional as Tetsu Sasaki had been, holding a cold and professional attitude the whole time. The man was named Sadakuno Goda and looked old; he looked close to retirement Naruto thought.<p>

Though he did rather enjoyed the small flash of panic on the man's face when he the told him that he would tell everybody who taught him how to read and write properly, it looked like the man didn't want it know who he had helped, he insisted that Naruto keep quite about it as it was his job and he didn't want any credit for it, claiming that sometimes shinobi don't want always the glory and prefer to simple get the job done and knowing it's success was enough for them_. _

_A good excuse, _he realized, _and a believable one at that mixed with some wise words about the shinobi way_. He smiled now he himself had an excuse to go and visit the library in Konoha in the near future.

* * *

><p>When Naruto visited the public library in Konoha, more cold glares awaited him there; the person behind the main desk seemed to have an icy glare that was honed in on him.<p>

"Can I help you?" the woman all but hissed. She was of medium height, looked to be in good shape and had long chestnut hair that was pulled back to reveal a full, warm face. Expressive black eyes were set gracefully within their sockets, the woman had a small scar stretching from just under her right eye, running towards the tip of the nose and ending above her left eye.

_Great another lovely person to deal with_. "Hello mam" he waved at her "I'm here about reading some books." Naruto got a look at her name tag that read Aye Kimura.

"You can read?" The woman sneered.

_What's this one's problem?_ He nodded. "Yep, the old man helped out with that"

The woman snorted. "This old man must have a lot of free time on his hands, where did you meet him on the street or some nursing home?"

_Oh how nice I said almost the exact same thing about him_. "Huh? The old man has this really big home; he said all Hokages usually live there" Naruto could all but hear the woman's panic set in.

"What?" The woman stammered incredulously.

Naruto nodded and then began making hand gestures. "Yeah, he took me to the Hokage Monument and told me about the house he lives in now, that has a strange symbol on it and how the first Hokage stayed at his home more often then there and his sensei stayed there most of the time and he still has his other home in case someone comes and kicks him out when they the title."

The woman seemed to fiddle unsure of her actions. "Oh, well…I?" _Oh crap, is he really close to the Hokage?_ The woman cast a glance at Naruto who was looking wide eyed at her keeping an air of innocence. _Uh he looks too stupid to lie, best to just bury him in paper work. _

The woman coughed and cleared her throat. "Well to read or borrow books from here you need to get a library permit, and that requires some paper work"

_Of course it does._ "Like what mam?"

The woman handed him a piece of paper from a drawer at her desk. "You need to fill this application and you need a parent's signature to complete the application process. Like wise you need to present an ID with photo, name and address."

"But I don't have any parents and I don't know about the other stuff." _So burying me in paper work huh? _

"Well that's a shame" the woman replied in a mocking tone of voice. "Come back when you resolve the problem."

"How do I do that mam?" _Nor even a bit of aid huh?_

"Figure it out yourself, now leave."

_Great, I need to rely more on the Hokage after all. _

To Naruto's surprise the Hokage actually helped him get the documents needed for the library permit, what's more he lent Naruto several books to read; of course after quick look through the books most appeared to glorify the previous Hokages and Konoha. _Still it looks like the old man may actually be on my side, could it just be incompetence? Why would he help me get a library permit so easily? Hm, he was rather busy so he may have wanted to get rid of me quickly or…._ He's eyes widened. _He could keep track of me this way as well, the library would keep a list of the books I borrow and read, that list would end up at the Hokage and he would know if I'm getting to smart for my own good_. He smiled momentarily_. Well it's good I don't the library permit for to long. _

The libraries reluctantly made him his library permit and handed it to him.

"Well what books are you interested in?" She asked looking upset.

"Um, the old man."

"The Hokage." The woman replied sternly.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and nodded. "Yeah, the Hokage gave me some books on Konoha but are there any on the lands outside of Konoha? He took me to the top of Hokage monument and I could see stuff in the distance and I wanted to know if there's something else out there?"

"Of course there is." The woman replied hotly.

"Yeah but what is there?"

"Other countries and villages of course!"

"Really?"

"Yes."

"That sounds so cool; do you have any books on that? Maybe with some pictures."

The woman rubbed her temples. "Uh, yes, but considering your young age you won't have accesses to all the books here, nor will you be able to take them home with you."

_Ah, so limiting me to a degree? Though perhaps it simply related to more adult maters, I'm curious just what books will be off limits_. "Can I read them here then?"

The woman nodded "Yes, we have two lecture halls, but seeing as there still under renovation because of an unfortunate incident" she glared at him at the incident part "you will have to stay here."

"Ok!" _Did the Kyuubi attack affect this place as well? Is she blaming me? _

"Wait right here and don't touch anything."

It was when the woman got out from behind her desk that Naruto could see that she had a wooden left leg; he wasn't sure if it ran above her knee of remained just under it. _So she may have been injured in the Kyuubi attack and got stuck here, I guess she blames me as well. _He gritted his teeth and then calmed down. _It's not like I wanted this either._

After the woman returned with three books she escorted Naruto to a table not far from the reception desk.

"You have an hour and a half until lunch brake when the library closes and the opens again in one hour, don't draw anything on them and don't rip them either." She told him in a professional tone of voice.

Naruto nodded and took a seat opening one of the books brought to him, one with a lot pictures in it. _Well at least I can claim I liked the pictures in the book._

Naruto placed his left hand under the cover of the book and used his right hand to turn the pages, he briefly closed his eyes and focused the way Yukimura had taught him, a signal that it was time to act, he felt a small familiar feeling as Yukimura's magic coursed through his body again and spread out, he could feel it touching the books near him all the while slowly moving towards the others as well.

As more people came into the library Naruto noticed how a part of them sent him cold glares, he ignored them and returned to his book. Half and hour later the library closed as it was lunch time, he went back to his apartment and dropped the books the Hokage gave him, he quickly eat and then returned to the library and signaled Yukimura to continue as before, this time Naruto stayed until late into the evening. He would return and repeat the process in the following days, switching seats to be closer to the parts of the library that he hadn't been close to the days before, if anything changed in does days it was the fact that it appeared that with the passage of time and him spending so much time there the first libraries he had met was warming up to him while her colleagues, that he later met as well kept a neutral tone with him.

* * *

><p>While Naruto lay on a chair listening to the Hokage talk, he couldn't help but smile at what the Hokage was doing, gently pushing him to want the title of Hokage, talking about how loved and acknowledge the previous Hokages were, feeding his need to do the same and desire the title, he had doing this for quite a while, always dropping a hind about it in other conversations as well. Currently the Hokage was talking about how great summons were and how most of the previous Hokages had summons as well.<p>

"Wow they sound great old man, so you have a summons as well right?" he asked in a cheerful and curious tone.

The Hokage nodded as he stamped a piece of paper. "Yes I do Naruto-kun, I have the monkey summons."

"Monkeys?" he looked puzzled "Are they cool?"

"I like to think so; they all have their own unique fighting style and jutsu."

_What is he playing at? I'll need to ask Yukimura and Sayaka about the summons when I see them next time. _ "They sound awesome" _Let's try something though, stir the waters a bit._ "Could I sign your contract in the future?"

The Hokage shook his head, as he stamped another piece of paper. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun but the monkey summons have sworn themselves to my family alone. But perhaps one day you will sign a summon contract as well."

"I don't think I'll ever be so lucky." He answered in a downtrodden voice. _Let's hear your answer._

"Have faith Naruto-kun, a bright boy such as yourself, why you never know what may happen." The Hokage answered in warm tone of voice looking compassionately at him.

_Does that mean he already has someone who will let me sign a contract in the future_? _He mentioned the toads as well, why would he want me to become their summoner? The Yondaime had them, could they actually become my allies or is it some sort of a sick joke, them having the jinjuriki of the Kyuubi as their summoner, the two who are viewed as responsible for the Yondaime's death, their last summoner. Uh this is just more food for thought. _"Ok old man." Naruto nodded and smiled again before rubbing his stomach slightly. "I'll think I'll go to eat something; can you come over to Ichiraku's?"

"Sadly not today Naruto-kun, I'm rather busy." The Hokage motioned towards the papers on his desk.

"Ah" he answered in a resigned voice "that's too bad, maybe next time old man." When he reached the front of the door leading out of the room he stopped briefly and turned around. "Hey old man if I make dinner for us will you come eat?"

The Hokage looked at him curiously for a moment. "Of course."

"Do you promise?" he asked in a hopefully and meek tone of voice._ Come on remember what you said old man_.

"Yes I promise Naruto-kun." The Hokage answered in a warm grandfatherly voice.

"And… you wouldn't break it would you?" _That's it just a bit more._

"Of course not" Naruto noted how the Hokage's voice was firm as steel.

_Excellent._ "That's great old man!"

"What brought this on though Naruto-kun?" The Hokage asked in a curious tone keeping his eyes on Naruto.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Well I just wanted to say thanks for what you've done for me old man, with the people teaching me stuff and all, and I hear that that's how you repay people."

The Hokage smiled and nodded. "That's rather thoughtful of you, very well then Naruto-kun, I wish you luck for it."

Naruto waved at him as he left the room.

The Hokage returned his gaze to the stack of papers on his desk, _Uh if only things could be as pleasant as this was for the rest of the day_; he picked up one piece of paper from the desk and looking over it quickly before he placed it back down and rubbed the bridge of his nose._ Tensions with the Uchiha and Kurama clan are slowly rising, and now with members Kurama clan losing their lives on missions and their bodies not even being recovered, _he rubbed his temples this time_, things are just getting worse with them_.

The Hokage let out a tired breath, _well at least business is going well and Konoha has plenty of missions coming in. Hmm I still have a bit until the meeting with Shinga to discus his research. _The Hokage looked over a mission report that he had put aside. _It appears Itachi Uchiha is quickly rising through the ranks, already a chunin at age ten and wants to join Anbu, he's already been taped by them as well, hmm well best to see how he does in the coming months and then decide on the matter. _The Hokage lit his pipe before returning to the stack of papers on his desk.

* * *

><p>Takenao Toma sighed as he read another page of an old book about vegetables, he was planning on growing a few more vegetables and then to sell them in his shop later, but first he needed to know how to take care of them and what work was needed for each one of the plants. His shop sold vegetables and other foods made from them, he used recipes handed down from his great grandfather to make the food, what other things he sold that he didn't grow or make himself were usually either bought from some of the people in Konoha or brought in with the trade caravans from towns nearby. <em>The food business in Konoha is always profitable<em>.

He avoided the meat products and milk ones, they were too complicated for his taste, it was in his opinion best to stick with something simpler, the few chickens he had drank water every day, he didn't want to think how much water cows, pigs and sheep drank. _I could probably water my crops for a week with the water they drink in a day._ Takenao turned another page of the book, the smell of fresh cut radishes filled the store from the small snack he had eaten earlier in the morning. He owned the store and like many others was the shopkeeper as well, the store wasn't large more medium size overall, but at least it has his, he had good relations with the other store owners and made sure not to step on anybody's toes, a few had connections with the merchants guild representative and could make things difficult for him.

Takenao turned a new page, it was a good day he decided, there wasn't anything that could ruin it, a small noise made from a bell he had hung near the door alerted him that someone walked into the store and he put the book down to look at who it was, a small felling of dread began curling up in his stomach, his day had gotten far worse then he thought it could ever get.

"Heya mister." A small blue eyed blond boy with six whisker marks on his cheeks spoke to him waving a hand. The boy was dressed in dark blue pants and had a grey jacket with a red line running down the sides of the arms starting from the shoulders.

_It's him!_ Takenao cringed. The kid was a sore topic for the people of Konoha, he had seen him walking around the market once or twice, and heard that the kid had bought products from a few merchants. Takenao had been informed that the word was to either deny him service or sell him food close to the expiration date or better yet already expired. The boy looked to have such innocent eyes. "Can I help you?" He tried keeping a tone as neutral as he could, money was still money.

The boy's eyes widened. "Yeah, I need the stuff on this list." The boy pulled out a piece of paper from a pocket of his pants and gave it to him.

Takenao quickly read the list, he had everything on the list and there were a few products that were close to the expiration date, a few were expired ones as well, he could defiantly score some points with the other merchants if hr gave the kid those products. Takenao smiled. "All right then I'll get you these products."

Naruto smiled "Really, thank you mister!" he finished in an honest tone of voice.

Again Takenao noticed those wide blue innocent eyes and felt a small tinge of regret before he pushed that aside. "Just wait right here" Takenao noticed the boy nod enthusiastically. It took a bit longer to gather everything on the list, he made sure that most of the stuff was either close to the expiration date or expired. _Heh I'll add a bit more to the price and everything will be great. _

"Here's everything on the list and the price for them." Takenao handed Naruto a piece of paper with the bill.

"That seems like a lot mister." Naruto responded in a bewildered tone.

Takenao furrowed his eyebrows and scowled. "It's what it costs, unless you're saying that I'm lying." he put more force behind the last words trying his best to sound intimidating. Takenao flinched a bit when the boy seemed to withdraw into himself, yet at the same time he felt a bit of pride for this accomplishment.

"No mister." Naruto reached into his pockets and after counting the money handed it to the man. "Thanks mister." Naruto told the man as he picked up the bag with the products.

Takenao smiled. "No problem kid." _Heh, maybe this day won't be so bad after all, this will defiantly win me points with the other merchants_.

Naruto smiled. "Now I can make a great dinner for the nice old man, I'll definitely tell him I bought the food from here."

"He's nice huh?" Takenao responded absentmindedly looking for his book again. _Make they'll both get food poisoning. Oh well no skin of my back if some old fart get's sick as well. _

Naruto nodded his head "Yeah old man Hokage's great!"

Takenao's eyes bulged, his blood froze in his veins, he felt his toe nails digging into his shoes and his butt cheeks clenched faster then he could ever imagine possible. _That can't be right, there now way that that's possible. _A small memory rushed through his mind, one that he had not paid attention at first and pushed it to the back of his mind, a memory of a few merchants talking about the boy and the Hokage walking through the market place not long ago.

Takenao gulped. "So your making dinner for the Hokage?" he asked, his voice shaking, he had already begun to sweat.

Naruto nodded his head enthusiastically and answered in a cheerful tone of voice. "Yeah, the old man promised he'd come and eat it as well."

Takenao felt his heart skip a beat, _maybe there's still a chance it won't happen_, he steadied his voice. "Oh, well you know the Hokage's a busy man, he may not make it after all."_ Of please Kami, please._

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. "No way! he promised he'd be there, he said it was really important to keep your promises, so he'll definitely arrive and eat dinner with me just like he promised."

Takenao began sweating heavily. _Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Maybe I can blame it on his cooking skills. _"Can you actually cook kid? Making food isn't exactly easy you know, a lot of things can go wrong."

Naruto nodded happily and smiled before answering "Yeah, the old man got someone to teach me how to do it and that person said I was really good at it, the old man said he was impressed with me."

_Of course he did, damn I can't blame on that then, the Hokage probably got someone to teach the kid after all and that person would report to him on the progress_. He noticed the boy begging to leave. _I can't let him go._ "Hey kid wait a minute." He called out his voice was close to breaking.

"What is it mister?" Naruto asked curiously.

Takenao had beads of sweat running down his temples and forehead; he began to chew his lower lip. _Shit, what do I do? If I sell him any good stuff I'll get into trouble with the other merchants and they could even ostracize me, but if I let him go with the food he's got I could end up accidentally giving the Hokage food poisoning, and I don't know what kinds of trouble that will bring down on my head, could the Hokage actually kill me or would I end up in prison after a visit at Torture and Interrogation?_. A chill went down his spine; there was talk of a rising star there that very good at breaking people.

As Naruto looked on at the man he had a hard time not smilling, Yukimura's words resounding in his head. _Force people to make choices between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose, put them on the horns of a dilemma, they are gored wherever they turn. _Naruto laughed on the inside, while on the outside his mask did not betray him. _ If the Hokage get's food poisoning I doubt he will sit idly by, it's one thing when someone else suffers it's entierly something else when you're the one who suffers, he will make an example out of this man and the others will think twice about trying it on me as well or if the merchant chooses to sell me the good stuff he will also be less inclined to act against me in the future becouse of the known risk, either way it works in my favor._

Takenao put on his best smile and rubbed his hands together. "Well if it's for the Hokage maybe I should add something more."

Naruto gave the man a strange look. "But I don't have any more money mister." he answered in a down trotted tone of voice.

Takenao waved his hands in a dismissive manner. "Don't worry it's free of charge." _Just give me the damn bag back so I can switch the food around._

Naruto tightened his grip on the bag, furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. "No way mister, that's special treatment and the Hokage said I shouldn't get that, and I don't think he'd want that it either, it doesn't sound fair to me."

_Of course, Kami damn it all_. Takenao's finger nails dug into his wooden counter, he looked at the bag the boy had, he spotted one of the products and an idea struck him, he quickly raised his hands from the counter. "You know kid I think I made a mistake when I added the prices up."

Naruto backed away slowly and asnwered in a frightened tone of voice. "You mean I have to pay more?"

Takeno wildly waved his hands in front of himself. "No no no, it's actually less kid." Sweat still poured from his temples and he felt his back wet.

Naruto's eyes widened "You mean I get money back?" he answered in a bewildered tone of voice.

Takenao nodded his head furiously. "Yes, uh looking at it now I think I added something a bit more expensive by accident."

"But why?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I um... don't have my glasses on. So just give them back and I'll look over the list again."

Naruto looked strangely at the man. "But you still don't have your glasses on mister."

Takenao just clenched his teeth, his toe nails all but reached the wood floor through his shoes, he smiled sweetly again "How about you just read me the list, ok kid?"

Naruto nodded "Ok mister."

As soon as Takenao got his hand of the bag he felt a weight lifted of his shoulders, he quickly swapped the products for fresh ones and handed them back to the boy, while also giving him back a part of the money. He had tried offering the boy some special discount but he stubbornly refused, even trying to create special offers just for the current day, but the boy still refused. _Uh, I guess he's just a kid, a bit on the stupid side, and too innocent to do any harm, add the connections to the Hokage that he can blab to and that's a dangerous kind of a fool to anger_. Takenao let out a sigh of relief as the boy left; maybe he could lie about what happened, he didn't need to tell the other merchants anything, it wasn't certain that they would find out. _Yeah, I can try and deny it after all._ Those plans came to a crashing halt when he heard a voice from outside his store and his blood froze in his veins.

"Thanks again for all the great stuff mister! I hope you find your glasses so you don't overcharge people again."

Takenao saw the boy waving enthusiastically at him with a stupidly innocent smile on his and a few people staring at him, amongst them a few of merchants as well, he paled a bit. _Well shit, guess I'm going to try and tell them about the kid's connection to the Hokage, I just hope they believe me. Dear Kami I wish the kids never comes back; I don't know how many days like this I can take._

* * *

><p><strong>Naruto's Anbu guard let out a relived breath as she saw the boy finaly go to sleep, her mission was simple enough, watch over the Uzumaki to make sure no one attacked him and report if it looked like he couldn't handle anything related to living alone, <strong>**_which he seems to be able to do remarkably well, he is a fool but has the fool's luck as well, those innocent blue eyes appear to absorb everything they see. _**

**The Anbu let out a sigh, she was just a few months away from retierment and had been given this assaingment becouse of her good track record, the Hokage needed someone who would do the job and do it well, following orders to the letter, the last Anbu guard who had taken liberties with following orders had learned of the consequences his actions. She had hoped that she could do a few more high class missions before her retirement but it had been for not after the attack on the Uzumaki. **

**She gently checked her surroundings before returning her gaze to the boy, she had been part of the high guard in Anbu, and now she would end her carrer babysiting, she could still hear the snickers, the chicken guarding the fox, she had worn the chicken mask with pride and made it something fierce. **

**At least this way she could better train the new Anbu member Cat, and ensure she received training befiting a potential new high guard member. And after everything was said and done she would retire and leave the village, her husband's crippling injury and her own long years in Anbu, adding the fact that they wanted to start a family and work on a farmland, one that her husband's family had left him and that would be near the border with The Land of Rivers and they could act as spies all but ensured their departure from the village, she was lucky in many ways, that region was amongst the few green regions in Fire Country and they wouldn't need to tap into their nest egg too much.**

**As much as they would have liked moving out of the country it was unfortunatly out of the question, while as civilians it wasn't much of a big deal, for a ninja and one who had actualy distingueshed themselves such as her, that would raise some alarm bells, so most of the other countries where she and her husband could move too fell of the map, those that remained like the lower countries were in many ways to bloody, she shuddered remembering some of the missions done there, blood always seemed to be spilled in that place, her only other real option would be to move to a country near Iron but conditions were much harsher there. **

**Already it would require a few Yamanaka's to go through her mind before leaving, she shuddered to think what would happen if there was a suspicion of treason, she has seen the end result of an interrogation that had been too brutal and had reduced the person to a drooling mess that received a swift kunai to the neck as a mercy killing.**

**Staying in Konoha was out of the question, both her and her husband agreed on that matter, even now she would lay done her life for the village if it was needed but after serving as an Anbu and being part of the Assassination Batallion her view of the village and her country had changed greatly. As much as she had loved her village before when she was still a small child now that feeling of love had been beaten, stabbed and had blead out heavely in a ditch before getting back up only to receive a shovel to the face. Both she and her husband didn't want any of their children to grow up in Konoha and become shinobi, the village had a tendency to chew up and spit out shinobi in some of the worst ways imaginable.**

**She had attempted to persuade her little brother and his wife to move away as well or at least refraing from having their children become shinobi, sadly they hadn't listened and adopted two children recently who they hoped would become shinobi like them one day. She shook her head remembering little Kari's wide smile and innocent eyes, the girl seemed far too fragile to ever become a shinobi, and considering what was required of shinobi she could see little Kari being broken by the profession in to many ways to count, those wide innocent being replaced with a hollow gaze from the horrors she would witness and many times would commit herself. **

**The current daimyo** was unfortunately weak willed and easily swayed by the court members on what decision to make, that of course when the man wasn't delegating his tasks away to others, and this in turn led to some people and their families gaining more power and influence, amassing great wealth, that in turn they wouldn't share but rather horde it all for themselves.

With the daimyo's more lax approach on governing, each region had began making its own laws and taxes, the regions ended up colliding with each other on several occasions, small infighting between them had become normal, and not paying taxes the favorite game of the governors and nobles or at the very least paying as little as possible.

The regional governors had become more and more secure in their position and with it solidified they slowly began to indulge themselves in more and more depravities, she herself had been sent on a mission to kill a few of the little boys that had escaped a nobleman's harem. She had barely refrained herself from killing that man and had hoped and prayed that a mission would come to kill him, sadly it never came.

Worse was the issues of the succession that was still unclear as the daimyo was believed to have had sired many children, however the validity of those claims were contested, most of his children had been married into noble families or started their own, add the fact that the oldest two had died recently, and a potential civil war seemed near. One of the daimyo's sons, Kenijirou, looked to be the new favorite; however the problem lay in the fact that he was also the most unstable of the bunch, his own depravities made some of the other nobles blush, and that was an achievement not to be envied.

She cringed when she thought about Kenijirou actually becoming the daimyo, the country would mostly likely collapse in on itself in a few short years during his reign and make it ripe for invasion from the other countries, at least the green zones were safe, or as safe as they could be, they were the areas where things were still normal and livable, they had a clear set of laws to follow, a good administration and the cities weren't something short of a sewage pit like some cities.

Chicken shook her head, _shinobi were supposed to be heroes_, or at least that's what she had been told as a small child, sacrificing themselves for their village, to keep other people safe, fighting the battles others couldn't. Once a person joined the ranks though that illusion began to shatter, a person needed money to live, money that one got by either joining one of the departments in Konoha, which only got more difficult as time passed, or by doing missions. And the missions would slowly become more and more dark and the fine illusion of being a shinobi would soon shatter into a thousand pieces; while shinobi were still needed they weren't heroes or something even remotely close to it, calling themselves such was a horrific lie.

_I don't think a hero every had to drug a woman and using stolen sperm impregnate her with another man's child, so her sterile husband would divorce her and kill his best friend, who was the father and just another victim of a plot to bring down his friend. All done because of a political play and the shadowy game that follows it everywhere, ruining three lives in one stroke._

She sighed there was still little she could do, her gaze fell on the jinjuriki, his life she realized would be even darker then her own, mostly likely he would be kept as a big secret weapon to throw at the enemy when the situation was most dire, in this case he would need to just unleash a bit of the Kyuubi's power and run wild, or be trained to become Konoha's ultimate weapon, though seeing as how he had not received any training that option seemed less and less likely.

She didn't understand why he was given such a small apartment in this old building, while it was perfectly livable, she didn't understand why he wasn't kept in a place were he could be monitored appropriately, but it wasn't her place to think about her orders, that had become quite clear during her career, she just had to carry them out.

The jinjuriki could by all accounts take care of himself, no other attacks had occurred and she could recommend that guard duty for him cease later when her mission ended and the academy semester began in two weeks, Anbu were always needed somewhere else, Konoha had a lot of missions coming in. As she relaxed her shoulders she noticed the jinjuriki shift in his sleep, one thing seemed to be that the Uzumaki slept quite a lot, _perhaps it is simply something from the attack_, she quietly began to get into a meditative position that would allow her to rest and remain vigilant at the same time, something that sadly only a few Anbu still knew nowadays.

* * *

><p>Flash back before Naruto woke up at the start of the chapter.<p>

Naruto parried another sword swipe and quickly countered managing to land a blow on his opponent's left arm forcing him to drop his blade then he swiftly brought his second sword to his opponent's neck and watched as he disappeared a moment later.

"Well done Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded and placed his swords back upon the rack from where he had taken them at start of the match, he picked up a glass of water from a table near it and looked around the dojo, as part of his training Sayaka and Yukimura would recreate images of people they had fought in the past and have him fight them as well, each person had a different style and forced him to adapt to them giving him experience in fighting different styles and opponents, often he would have to fight multiple opponents at once. His most recent opponent had been a boy with spiky blond hair and red eyes, a golden set of metal armor, and a large red blade, with a curious spiral design to it.

"Go clean up and join us in the living room."

Naruto nodded and left the dojo, after they returned from sledding, they had eaten and after two hours, time in which he read in the library Sayaka called him to practice his fighting styles in the dojo. After quickly washing up he made his way into the living room, both Yukimura and Sayaka were sitting on chairs in the middle of the room, another empty chair was nearby with a small wooden table with a tea pot and cups on it was between the three of them.

Naruto looked around the room he hadn't been in it all that often, the rug in the room always seemed to stand out to him, it was of a dark color and had blood red falcate shaped leafs upon it. He made his way to the empty seat and sat down taking a sip of the tea and looking at the two, Yukimura wore a pair of black pants and a white shirt; to Naruto's surprise he also wore a pair of black socks. Sayaka on the other hand wore black fitting pants and a dark blue sweater.

"Felling better?" Yukimura asked when Naruto lowered his tea cup.

"A little" he answered.

"I take it that you've formed some sort of plan by now to deal with the situation in Konoha." Yukimura asked as he picked up his own tea cup.

"I have a few ideas about it."

"Well let's hear them Naruto-kun, we'll add to them as we go along."

Naruto nodded. "Right now I still have food at the apartment but once it run's out I'll need more, so I either have to go hunting or buy some, but after seeing how the people look at me, I think I will have a harder time doing so. This doesn't include the fact that I don't have any money of my own yet or the Hokage's spying on me."

"Indeed, the Hokage will most likely give you a small allowance, now what are you thinking about the other matters?"

"I'll have to use it to my advantage, maybe if my Anbu guard reports the fact that the merchants aren't treating me fairly the Hokage will intervene to get them to change their minds."

"Perhaps" Yukimura intoned sipping his tea.

"However, it would be best to show the Anbu and the Hokage that I can manage my own money so that he will stop with a part of his spying."

Yukimura placed his cup back on the table "And if the Hokage decides not to intervene and aid you or the Anbu guard doesn't report your merchant problems to him?"

"I force the issue." he answered quickly.

Yukimura smiled and raised an eyebrow in a curious manner. "Oh, do tell how you would achieve such a thing."

Naruto let out a small breath. "I invite the Hokage over to dinner, to show that I can manage on my own and what I've learned so far, perhaps to show my gratitude for his help. I buy some food from a merchant that will sell only expired food or close to the expiration date and casually mention what a nice man he is and that I'll be sure to mention it to the Hokage from were I got the food. The merchant will then have a choice, he either sells me food that isn't harmful and doesn't risk it in the future either or he let's things play out in which case I use the food and give myself and the Hokage a few stomach problems."

Noticing the skeptical looks on Yukimura and Sayaka's faces he continued. "I'll simply act like an innocent little child who doesn't even know what a lie is, making it difficult for the merchant to believe I'm lying to him. This would plant the idea of the Hokage coming over from time to time and potentially hurting the Hokage because of his food, something that I doubt he would risk. He would then have to choose to either start selling me good food and get in trouble with the other merchants or have trouble with the Hokage, either way I force him to make a choice between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve my purpose and he is gored wherever he turns." Both Yukimura and Sayaka gave him proud smiles.

"Not bad. And if the Anbu informs the Hokage of the quality of the purchased food and the Hokage decides not to eat it?"

"Simple, I make him promise beforehand that he will show up and eat the food, if doesn't then I use it against him that he doesn't keep his promises and that I can't trust him, how I shouldn't keep my promises either then. If he manages to wiggle his way out I have him promise again and repeat the processes once more. Add a small scene for the Anbu to witness where I cry that the Hokage refused in the end and that he's like the other villagers."

"Not bad Naruto-kun, it still needs a few changes to it but it's nothing we can't fix. Now what if that merchant has to close shop because of the pressure that other merchants exert on him?"

"I mention how I get my food from there to the Hokage, so that will a good point for him, and if closes shop, then I'll…." He stopped he couldn't repeat the processes forever.

"Well?" Yukimura asked.

A smile spread over his face. "Strike the Sheppard and the sheep will scatter, I casually observe the market place to see who the most influential or high placed merchant is and make an example out of him."

A proud smiled spread over Yukimura's face. "Excellent, I'm glad you're using the lessons you've taught you. Now about the academy and your ability to read and write properly"

Naruto rubbed his chin. "I could try and make friends at the academy, but insist that the Hokage find someone to help tutor me to help learn to better read and write before going to the academy to not look stupid, as it could impede my ability to make friends, I'll add that I got teased because of that at the orphanage, not that it isn't true."

"Indeed, consider that he may want to enroll you earlier with children older then you."

"Why would he do that? I would have a lot of difficulty there if that was the case, I would be at a disadvantage for any physical activities."

"He would know exactly where you are at all times, either at the academy or at home."

"Hmm, I can… observe at first the atmosphere there and see how things progress, if it's that bad I'll drop out, I doubt he would deny me the chance to enroll again next year. Considering my situation I don't think he will allow me to live a civilian life, if he considers it, I do know some of the skills you taught me to help survive, I could simply say that I'll become a writer and then write some of the books we have here in the library and claim that I came up with them."

"Good, very good actually."

"As to the mater related too your future friends."

"Anybody will do, however I'll keep my eyes open especially for clan heirs, or clan members."

"And why is that?" Sayaka asked raising her cup of tea, she was holding it with three fingers, her Pinky and ring finger were held closed.

"They will be in a position of power in the future and it never hurts to have someone like that as a friend or ally."

"True. While we do know some skills, quite a few of the shinobi arts of this world are still a mystery to us, how will you fix that?"

"The library, can you use your magic like you did before in the hospital and in my apartment to read books, could magic be used for such a thing?"

"Why yes it can. It won't be useful every time though and there is the matter of learning from a book and learning from a person."

"Hmm, I'll try a see if one of the academy teachers is willing to actually teach me, if not perhaps I can blackmail one."

"Good."

"Don't rely entirely on the Hokage, building your base with him as the support is faulty as it will crumble when he dies, and considering his advanced age, that may come soon enough."

"I know that" he told them in an irate tone of voice "but I'm using what I have available at the moment, I'll still work on finding a way to catch my own food and grow it as well, but I need time to do that and to get out from under his watch."

"Just the answer we were looking for" Sayaka intoned giving him a small smile as she raised her tea cup again.

"What? A flicker of realization passed through his eyes, "you were testing me!"

"Yes." Sayaka brought her cup down and placed it on the table.

Yukimura filled the tea cups again and looked towards Naruto. "Keep in mind that you will need friends, allies and servants."

"Servants? hmm" he rubbed his chin "I'll keep an eye open for that as well then."

"We may be able to help you more on that matter"

"In what way?" he asked. _Could they create someone like that?_

"If it comes down to it, we can create a way for you to send some people here to the god realm and we help convince them to join your side."

"That sounds incredible useful, but there has to be some sort of catch, we could simply use it on the Hokage or merchants if not."

"Once here, they would need to remain until they agree to join your side, if the Hogake were to disappear it would cause chaos, likewise a change in personality would arouse suspicion, so that option falls through as well. You could in the future bring someone here who you greatly trust."

"That's definitely an option I'll consider, but these people joining me sound more like a secret agents more then anything"

"Perhaps they will be, while you remain here we will continue your training, but after you leave here we will ask you to not return for a month."

"What? Why?" he asked panicking.

"We want to see how you handle things on your own Naruto-kun, consider it part of your training."

"I...alright"

"Cheer up it won't be that bad." Both Sayaka and Naruto gave Yukimura and annoyed look. Yukimura coughed awkwardly "Well how about I tell you about what I've come up with about dealing with the seals in your room and show you how to signal me to use my magic when you reach the library."

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><p>Review away<p>

Constructive criticism or pointing out possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.

Check out the poll on my page and the forum where the other polls are.

* * *

><p>- honestly the roads in Konoha don't look paved, a good rain will mess everything up<p>

- the buildings look…unique? That's one word for them, I prefer rather messed up overall but hey there have been worse

- him going to the academy for this reason does make sense, the Hokage knows where he can be found most of time and he wouldn't be lonely.

- The dialogue scene with the person that the Hokage got to help Naruto learn to read and write was cut and replaced in the end.

- Itachi's age seems to be a bit of a problem, and by problem I mean plot hole, so he's chunin at 10, ok, joined Anbu roughly half a year later, er ok, why not? I think he joined Akatsuki after the massacre that happened when Sasuke was 8 and Itachi was 13 and then beat Orochimaru who ran away after his defeat. But here's the thing, Jiraya mentioned that Orochimaru left the organization seven years before the story started. So Itachi had to have become a full-pledged member of Akatsuki when he was 11 and beat down Orochimaru, all the while being an Anbu member, so damn did he ever multitask or what? Clan member, Anbu and Akatsuki member, talk about running ragged no wonder the guy got sick. Here I'm going to change a few things to make things less… muddy.

- The daimyo being weak willed can actually be seen in the few scenes he's appears in, he's a bit harder during the meeting with the others daimyos discussing the alliance but then returns to his rather normal self. There was just one movie that had him being a bit more forceful.

Finished writing chapter 6 on 26 III 2014 I wonder how long until it's posted?

I recommend the Gotrek and Felix series of books, I started with Orcslayer, Manslayer was good as well, Elfslayer is by far my favorite, while Shamanslayer and Zombieslayer are great as well, Zombieslayer has one hell of a siege.

**Story recommendations : **

**End Game Version R** by Kur0Kishi

This is so bloody damn kick ass, some great fight scenes and bad ass moments in it, add some Fairy Tail music to it and you're golden. Seriously just read it you won't regret it.

**The Harsh Truth** By: Shadenight123

Wow, just wow, great stuff, I highly recommend it, their's struggle, backstabbing, scheming, and great plot twists. Best of all it's complete.


	7. Chapter 7 : A day in my life

**I do not own Naruto**

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – _normal thoughts_  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><em><strong>Listen<strong>_** – ****_biju, higher being thoughts_**

**Chapter 7 : A day in my life**

For once Naruto was happy it had been two days and his Anbu guard had not returned he still had another two days until the academy started. _Maybe it won't be so bad after all._

Naruto got out of bed after performing the usual chakra exercises and made himself breakfast; he intended to return to the god realm tonight it had been hard the past weeks without returning there at least once and several times he had to stop himself from crying because of the loneliness and isolation he felt.

Using the Yukimura's mark on the wall he had discovered that some of the people around him had already moved out of the building and by the looks of it more were leaving with the passage of time. It didn't bother him at all; the only thing he was curious about was how he would approach the matter of tearing down a wall to the apartment next to him so he could expand his own place and to see how he could avoid getting in trouble with the landlord.

He quickly got dressed and prepared to head out, today one of the long distance trade caravans arrived in the village and he planed on buying a few things from them. His food problem had been partially solved after his manipulation of the merchant he had chosen, a few other merchants seemed to relent on the quality of the products they sold him and the prices they charged him. Naruto assumed that the merchants had managed to come to a similar conclusion as the merchant he had chosen; the fact that he had visited the market with the Hokage a while back and a rumor had been started then of their closeness only add to the flames.

To his joy he was able to map out the schedule for some of trade caravans and suppliers of the shops in Konoha, both groups had no problems selling him anything, some of the shop suppliers would usually bring more merchandise and sell it at a lower price at the market. None of the shops owners could give a good reason why the people from the trade caravans shouldn't sell him anything, not without breaking the Hokage's law, something that still appeared to keep them in check for time. _It's amazing what a good death threat will do._

Adding the ramen stand, and a senbei shop, owned by an old Uchiha couple, something that when the Hokage discovered had made the man tense for some reason, to the list of places that didn't overcharge him helped to alleviate the problem, however he still needed to cause the fall of one particular merchant. _Just a bit more to get the ball rolling on that plan. _He looked over at some of the books the Hokage had brought him when he had prepared a meal for the two of them. _That most likely helped sway him in that I don't need a guard anymore. _He got a few bags and left the apartment casting one last glace at the books. _Just more books that praise Konoha and its shinobi, none of them mention any faults it may have; Kami if I read another story about how great the Will of Fire is I'm going to puke._

As he climbed down the stairs they creaked at a few steps here and there, the metal was rusted in some parts and the staircase seemed to grit its teeth in an effort to keep itself whole as the rains had battered it and although it still withstood them, the staircase had clear marks left upon it with patches of rust in some places. Naruto shook his head and began to make his way towards the market place, he shivered slightly, it was January and although no snow had fallen it was still cold outside. It was something that irked him, for some reasons snow was rare in the country, while it did occur in some of the neighboring countries.

With the cold weather and the ground still hard he couldn't make his own garden in the forests in Konoha as he originally wanted, he still planned on making a small garden on the rooftop of his building and getting plants for his apartment; it just didn't feel right for him to not have something green around the place, but at the same time he needed to be careful with his money and wanted to only buy what he absolutely couldn't get on his own.

The cold forced him to raise the color of his jacket to better protect his neck, making his way through Konoha towards the market place he saw some of the people glaring at him, at least some now treated him like he didn't exist and simply paid him no attention. _Unintentional psychological warfare inflicted on a five year old, truly the will of fire burns in Konoha like never before. _

He took a deep breath as he continued walking towards the market place, the air was much cleaner now and more fresh then before during autumn, the dead leafs from the trees were gone now. A cold wind blew and Naruto shivered, he smacked his own arms to warm himself and pressed forward, the pockets of his jacket and pants bulged with the bags he had brought with him. He looked around himself at the buildings and trees in Konoha.

_Even in winter Konoha is green, I suppose it isn't that surprising considering how some of the trees here are fir, Magnolia, Camphor and Evergreen trees. It looks like the people took great care to bring as many kinds of trees here, I wonder if some were brought here before the creation of Konoha or afterwards, it seems rather unlikely that having so many kinds of trees in one place would be a natural occurrence, could the Shodai Hokage have created the vast forests with his bloodline after all?. _

With a part of the trees losing their leafs the design of the buildings in Konoha looked more apparent, the large cables present upon their roofs stood out even more then before. _Well the view is still nice even with most of the green gone; the grass in late autumn gave the appearance of an ocean made of gold to parts of Konoha._

When Naruto neared the market place he could see caravans all around some even beyond the market place. A few people from what he could see used old fashioned farm wagons, fitting them with five or six wooden bows that arched from side to side across the wagon bed, then stretching canvas or some other sturdy cloth over the bows, creating a cylindrical cover, a few of the wagons were three meters while others looked to be as long as four point six metres.

Some of the larger ones had different designs, but a few were of the same model but with different sizes, the most frequent wagon looked to have been built with it's floor curved upward to prevent it's contents from tipping and shifting. The average wagon he guessed was eighteen feet long, eleven feet high, and four feet in width. By the size of it he calculated that it could carry up to a few thousand kilograms of cargo, four thousand to five thousand. The seams in the body of the wagon looked to be stuffed with tar to protect them from leaking while crossing rivers, also for protection against bad weather stretched across the wagon was a tough, white canvas cover. The frame and suspension were made of wood, and the wheels were iron-rimmed for greater durability, water barrels built on the side of the wagon held water, a few people were removing tools from a box on the side, _a toolbox, so they keep the tools needed for repair on the wagon there, _they had feedboxes on the back of the wagons that were used to feed the horses as well.

As he looked further he could see other caravans with different shapes in the background, he realized that they truly were of all shapes and sizes, some small drawn by a single horse while other were massive with six horses needed to move it. He heard a man shouting to a horse named Rudolph to calm itself and keep its nose clean. _What and odd name._ As he looked around his eyes bulged when he saw camels, _they must have traveled to the Land of Wind as well, _and he could also spot a few mules as well in-between the camels and horses. 

Naruto wandered amongst the market place, the caravans were slowly setting up their wares, placing them on small tables or showing them as they were in the caravans, some were unloading their wares to the shops with long lines of people that moved the merchandise between the caravans and the shops, he saw several children of all ages in those lines.

_Orphans perhaps, could I have ended up there as well? Could I ever work like that, without the people saying anything?_

He remembered how the Hokage had told him on one of his visits that when the orphans reached a certain age they were required to start working and leave the orphanage with a guardian helping to look after them for a time, quite a few of the orphans would end up joining the ninja academy. Whether it was because it had some advantage he didn't know and he doubted he would get a straight answer from the Hokage.

He made his way through the caravans looking at what each sold, he could already see several types of spices, some that Yukimura had talked to him about, a variety of cheeses, different kinds of tea, he realized that it would take hours if not the whole day to look over all of them, he smiled, _it's nice to have such a wide range of choices, and I did set this day aside just for shopping, the sooner I'm done here the sooner I can go to sleep and see Sayaka and Yukimura again. _

* * *

><p>Two people a man and a woman, both with brown hair, brown eyes and a pale complexion, the woman with short cut hair and the man with longer shoulder length hair stood near their unconscious child who rested on an operating table.<p>

The woman wiped away her tears. "It their really no other way?"

The man shook his head, his own eyes were red from crying for what was about to happen. "No, you know this as well as I my love, this is the only path left open to us, if we leave her as she is….."

"That fate is worse then death!" she looked away "she is our only child…."

"I know, but it must be done, she will feel no pain, with this we can blame it on an accident and hide everything until the right time."

The woman grabbed her husband's hand and squeezed. "For the good of the clan."

The husband squeezed back. "For the good of the clan."

The woman ran a hand over her daughter's hair. "What of the plans for his mistress?"

"She will have a tragic accident around the time of the incident."

"Perfect, with the drugs reducing his potency and his old age advancing that avenue will closed off permanently as well."

"Yes, we will appear dead to the world."

"While we hide in the shadows and restore our strength and reclaim our rightful place in the world."

"Yes."

"I only hope that if the time ever comes that she understands why we did everything."

"It is for the clan, I hope that she will understand as well, even if the chances of us meeting again are so slim."

"And if she survives and does not understand…"

"Then we will do what must be done, if we can do it now we will be able to do it again in the future."

The woman kissed her daughter's forehead. "Good bye, my little sunlight."

The man waited until his wife left their daughter's side before kissing her forehead as well. "Worry not daughter you will not be made into a breeder." The man retrieved a large coin from his pocket which he rolled over his knuckles. He looked at the two people that approached him. "Do it!"

* * *

><p>Naruto hummed a song he had heard in the god realm not long ago while walking back to the market place, this would be his third trip; the previous two had left him with two bags full of products and a third with a few of them in it as well. He had bought quite a few products, spices, tea bags, sugar, salt, chesses, a few meat products, some milk products, almost a bag full of fruits and vegetables. A few of the vegetables and fruits he had bought weren't native to fire country and couldn't be properly grown here because of the conditions in the country. He considered that his biggest accomplishments of the day were the seeds he had found and bought from some of the traders, something that he would make use of in the spring.<p>

Naruto looked around the market place again; the place was full of people now with everybody buying and selling products, inspecting them or bargaining for them, they were all coming and going with bags that held their purchases. He noticed the Uchiha military police amongst the crowds of people in several places, they looked to be watching everything that was happening around them but there was something else to them, they looked tense for some reason and a few people around them sent them strange looks from time to time. _They're probably here to keep order and look out for thiefs that may try something now, with the large crowds here it could be easy to steal something or another, it wouldn't be impossible, a quick look here and there, an accidental bump, a slight move of the hand and then someone's wallet would be gone, _a thought crossed his mind, _perhaps later I'll try it myself. _

As much as he trusted his training for stealing, trying it for the first time would still be difficult, add the fact that these were trained shinobi and he may find himself caught red handed. _Though the situation is perfect for stealing,_ he looked around seeming to take in everything, _large crowds, people bumping into each other while not paying attention to what's behind them because they're too busy looking over the merchandise, their attention far to distracted._

He expected the shinobi to stay vigilant in this kind of situation, _perhaps it's because this is a shinobi village and they believe no one would be so stupid as to attempt such a thing here. The presence of the Uchiha's could also add to their belief of security, though it doesn't explain the strange looks the people are giving them._

Naruto brushed the thought aside for later, as strange as it was he would think about it later. _Perhaps in the end it is the combination of all these things, being shinobi, the Uchiha' presence and the fact that this is Konoha, the so called strongest hidden village, all create the belief that thievery couldn't and wouldn't occur here. _

In the corner of his eye he could make out a few children looking around the people all but waiting to steal something, in another place he could spot a few rather shady people doing the same thing_. Desperation and opportunity, a few probably snuck in with the trade caravans hoping to try something_. A part of him felt sorry for the children who looked to be orphans like him, he shook his head in the end he couldn't do much to aid them.

As he walked around the market place he realized that he had missed an opportunity to strike against the merchants that overcharged him, had he been caught stealing then told the Hokage how he couldn't survive with the money the Hogake would give him because of how expensive everything was and how he had gotten desperate enough to try something like this.

It could have struck a blow against the merchants, there was however still a small chance that the Hokage wouldn't do anything, his Anbu guard must have noticed the kind of food he had been sold at first and how expensive it had been, and yet he couldn't say he had seen much of change in the merchants behavior, either the Hokage read the report and didn't care or the Anbu failed to mention such a thing, he doubted the merchants had the sheer audacity to go up against the Hokage if he come down on them. _It's only because of the implied threat that anything changed with them._

Naruto looked around the different products on display as he walked amongst the trade caravans; he kept his hands in his jacket pockets, two bags were in his front pants pocket and a third one was in one of his back pockets, the other one holding a fake wallet with paper clippings in it, in case someone tried anything. His real wallet was in an interior breast pocket of his jacket, safely tucked away. After he found a book about the history of trading during his last visit to the god realm and in its importance in shaping the world, well a world not his own, he had been smitten with the subject. Trade to his surprise had always been a boon for human interaction and brought cross cultural contact to a whole new level, something that before he didn't even know what it meant before.

When people first settled down into larger towns, the idea that one had to produce absolutely everything that one wanted or needed started to fade. A farmer could now trade grain for meat, or milk for a pot, at the local market, which was seldom too far away. Cities started to work the same way, realizing that they could acquire goods they didn't have at hand from other cities far away, where the climate and natural resources produced different things.

Cultural interactions patronized often by powerful figures, led to the development of art due to the introduction of a rich variety of influences. Trade provided mankind's most significant meeting place, the market. In primitive societies only religious events, cult rituals or rites of passage such as marriage, brought people together in a comparable way. The process of barter brought a crowd together in a more random fashion. New ideas, along with precious artifacts, had always travelled along trade routes. And the natural week, the shared rhythm of a community, had frequently been the space between market days. He couldn't help but like the market place considering its importance.

As Naruto walked amongst the crowds of people he overheard small bits of information, about the situation in a country, a region or a city. He stopped near a caravan and began to inspect its wares turning his back to three men near him whose conversation he had overheard and piqued his interest.

"So the Land of Snow is still in lock down?" a person with **nasal voice asked.**

"Yeah the trouble there is apparently still not resolved." A person with **guttural voice answered.**

**A gruff voiced person spoke next. **"Damn, I was hoping to go there on the return trip, now I have to sell my merchandise before that."

"You going to try selling it in the Land of Frost?" the nasal voice person asked.

"Probably, damn shame about Snow, there were some good deals to be made there, anybody got a clue whats going on over there?"

"Well" the person with the guttural voice began "I spoke with an old business partner from the Land of Earth with whom I did a few trade deals back when I was younger, he owns his own ship and makes trade runs to Snow and a couple of other places, the man told me that some of the people he did business with in Snow, the Izumi family" the man lowered his voice "they were nobles but all of them got slaughtered a while back. Apparently regular Snow troops were running around the trade port he docked at like crazy, once he found out about the death of the family he got the out of the place like the Shinigami was behind him."

"Damn" the nasal voice person answered "you think it's some sort of noble pissing match?"

The gruff voiced person chuckled. "Wouldn't be surprised, aren't they the same everywhere."

All three of the men laughed.

The nasal voiced person spoke up when the laughter died down. "The one's here in fire are as bad as any other place, still I wonder if it's just a normal thing or if the country is in lock down if it isn't something really big."

"I think it's some sort of civil war." The guttural person responded.

"Really?" the gruff voiced person asked.

The nasal voiced person snapped his fingers before speaking again. "I guess it makes sense, if the family chose the wrong side or got wiped out by the other side."

"Tsk" Naruto heard the gruff voiced person "trade opportunities there are going to flourish once the civil war is done and the country opens its borders again."

"Yes" the guttural voice person replied "but for the time it messes everything up, a lot of contracts got canceled and people got stuck at the docks with nowhere to sell their hauls."

"Damn shame about that, so what merchandise do you want to sell?" the nasal voiced person asked.

_Well there's some interesting information. _

"You going to buy something kid?" the caravan owner asked.

Naruto nodded and pointed at piece of wood with strange symbols carved into it. "I want that one mister."

After receiving the item Naruto moved on, a fourth person had joined the three men and they were now discussing their wares. As Naruto moved through the market place he stopped near one of the carriages, it was a simple one from what he could see and a girl was on it, he couldn't tell why he stopped near the carriage, it just felt like something was there that captured his interest. He looked at the young girl upon the carriage that was eating a red apple, she looked to be mid-adolescent, he guessed she was roughly one hundred and sixty centimeters tall, and weighted roughly forty kilograms; she wore a grey cloak that hid most of her features.

The girl must have noticed him as she turned towards him and he got a closer look at her, the girl had long orange hair and startling red eyes, she wore baggy clothing that hid a part of her physical features, he could see that she wore a blue shirt with a black vest over it, a button tied the vest at her chest, he could make out the writing on it to mean daughter of the north. The girl had a dark purple skirt and with a thick layer of black fur around it's edges. A pair of dark pants could be seen just under her knee where the skirt ended and her brown furred boots began, a red sash was tied around her waist, he could see a very small purple sack that was used as a necklace.

The girl seemed to be looking as intently at him as he had been looking at her; she never stopped eating her apple while looking at him, when she finished the apple the girl threw it in the wagon and got of it slowly walking towards him. He didn't know why but Naruto took an involuntary step back, the girl had a strange aura about her, the way she walked was that of a predatory approaching its prey who it knew couldn't run way, he felt like someone was carving a whole into his chest.

"Well well what do we have here?" the girl asked tilting her head when she was in front of him.

"Mam?" He asked in an unsteady voice, the pressure he had felt earlier had stopped now.

"You know little one." The girl got down on one knee and looked directly into his eyes. "You look just like" She moved her middle finger with a sharp nail placing it against his jugular drawing a drop of blood. "a fox" Her words were barely above a whisper.

_She knows?! _ Naruto felt his heart jump to his throat, he looked at the girl and could swear that the girl's eyes become more like that of a wolf, her hair became spikier, and he could make out two wolf ears in her hair, the girl opened her mouth and revealed two sharp canines. Naruto began to focus and preparing to call Yukimura when the girl suddenly glomped his face.

"I love foxes, they're so cute and cuddly" She cheered rubbing her face against his.

Naruto froze and quickly stopped trying to call Yukimura. "Mam?" He stammered.

"Uh uh" she waved a finger in front of him "I'm far to good looking to be called mam, can't you see my slim curves?" the girl motioned towards her body with one hand while still holding on to him with the other one, he could see the curves she talked about but that was because of how her cloths were hiding her features.

Naruto just looked at her unsure what to say or do, he mentally slapped himself. _Focus_. "Ano nee-chan can you let me go?" he tried to wiggle out of her hand.

"Hmm?" The girl was still holding onto him. "No." the girl tightened her hold on him.

The girl playfully touched his whisker marks running a finger down them and Naruto felt a small jolt and tingling sensation. "You know those whisker marks also make look like a rabbit." She told him in a serene voice.

"Really nee-chan?"

The girl's eyes were sharply on him. "Yes, and I love rabbits." she gently placed her index finger against his jugular again. "Especially when I snap their necks with my teeth."

His breathing hitched up a few notches.

The girl moved her finger across his jugular, then she burst out laughing. "Relax my dear sweet innocent little fox."

_Again? Is she trying to give me a heart attack?_ "That isn't funny nee-chan." He told her pouting and crossing his arms to his chest, his small purchase had been placed in his back pocket.

The girl chuckled looking at him. "Good grief! I believe you to be much cuter when you are panicking." She playfully tapped his nose. "Wait here." The girl made her way to the wagon searching for something in it before she quickly returned with five red apples handing them to him. "Here my little whiskered friend, never say that I am not generous."

Naruto nodded and took the apples smiling at her. "Thank you, but I don't know your name."

The girl smiled at him. "It's Ami my whiskered friend, Ami Koshimizu. And yours?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

The girl's smile took a predatory look. "Now what's a special little fox like you doing here all alone?"

_Does she know about what I am? _"Um just shopping mam." He replied in calm voice.

The girl pouted. "Now what did I say about calling me mam? Call me young sexy thing."

_Really telling a child to call her that is she some sort of pervert?_ "What's sexy mean?" he asked with an air of innocence.

"Something that refers to me." The girl replied in a confident tone of voice point with a finger pointing towards herself.

_And she has a tinge or arrogance as well_.

"Ah, now you can add young sexy thing at the end of your sentences when referring to me."

Naruto looked at her confused. "I heard other people say that word and they didn't want to tell me what it means, I'm not sure it's something good."

"That was quite the mouthful wasn't it? Well then Ami-chan will do, Naru-chan."

"I'm not a girl." He replied hastily.

"Neither am I." she fired back immediately.

Naruto's eye's bulged_. What is she playing at? _ "Really?" he asked in a surprised tone of voice.

"Nope I lied, I'm a woman."

Naruto felt like smacking his head against a wall. "There's a difference?" _It's not like she's going to tell me._

The girl gave him a smile that sent shivers down his spine. "Well yes, you see it starts with..."

Naruto's eyes bulged again. _She's going to tell me that? not even Sayaka talked about that_.

"Ami?" A man's voice called out.

Both Naruto and Ami turned around, near the carriage was a man who looked to be in his thirties of about one hundred and eight centimeters with a moderate build, the man had short grey hair, an inverted triangle face with a strong jaw line, a small stubble of hair was present on his chin. He was wearing black pants, an earth brown jacket with a light brown color, and a black vest with a white shirt underneath.

"So you've made a friend?" the man asked seeming genially surprised.

"Yes Jun, my cute whiskered little friend is called Naruto" the girl pointed towards the man near the carriage "the stressed out man there's named Jun, Naru-chan." She quickly pressed Naruto's head into her chest.

_Best to play along for now_. "Nee-chan." he struggled to get free.

The girl chuckled again. "I take it you're done with your business talks?" she asked looking at the man.

"Yes, I found out a few interesting things, shouldn't you let him go? His parents may be looking for him." the man asked looking around the place.

"I don't have any mister."

The man's expression seemed to sour. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Its ok." he replied in a sad tone of voice.

The man knelled down to his level. "Aren't you a little young to be wandering around here though?"

Naruto shrugged. "I'm just doing some shopping mister, its nice here, so many people and things."

"Yes" the man nodded "the market place was its own rhythm and magic doesn't it?"

Naruto smiled. "Exactly mister, there's so much life here, with hustle and bustle."

Jun smirked. "You should see some of the other market places out there."

"Are you with the trade caravans mister?" He asked looking at wagon behind the man.

"Yes, I'm a merchant with the long distance trade caravans."

Naruto scratched his head. _Now's a good chance to ask him about these caravans_. "Mister I've seen a lot of caravans coming and going through the place, what's different about yours?"

"Well, there are different kinds of caravans, some who bring in supplies from the nearby areas, just from within the country. With me so far?"

_I've figured that one out already_. Naruto nodded.

"After that things start to get more complicated, and you have caravans traveling here from neighboring countries, then you have caravans coming from countries that are from very far away. I myself was born on the other side of the continent."

That genially surprised him. "Wah, that's so far away."

The man chuckled "Yes, it is."

_This is taking longer then I expected_. "So you come from there with stuff to sell here?"

"Yes" the man nodded his head "my country has a few unique good that I buy and sell here."

"Isn't that still a long trip?"

"Well I don't just buy one thing, the caravans pass through numerous other countries, and I buy and sell other things while passing through them as well, other merchants simply travel between a country or two while the rest of us travel through a lot more of them."

"You traveled in that all the way here?" he asked pointing towards the wagon.

"No" the man chuckled and shook his head "I left my actual caravan somewhere else and rented this one because it was more convenient to use it instead."

"Oh." _I wonder what that reason is. _"So what kinds of stuff are transported?"

"That's a tricky question, you see while agricultural produces and other goods tend to make short journeys to the market place, trade in a grander sense, between distant places, is a different matter. It involves entrepreneurs and middlemen, people willing to accept delay and risk in the hope of a large profit."

"So it can be done, but is there something about the products?"

Naruto didn't notice how Ami's eyes fell sharply on him.

"Yes" Jun nodded "it has its own risks but is also present's numerous opportunities, when travel is slow and dangerous, the trader's commodities must be as nearly as possible imperishable; and they must be valuable in relation to their size. Spices often fit the bill as do rich textiles, and above all, precious ornaments of silver and gold, or useful items in copper, bronze or iron. As the most valuable of commodities, metals are a great incentive to trade; shinobi villages are often on the look out for deals involving quality metal. In recent times there have also been breakthroughs in transporting food products from one place to another, a few substances have emerged that help to preserve fruits and vegetables for long journeys."

"Preservatives." He answered, Yukimura had told him about them, it didn't look his world was that advanced in the matter.

"Hm" Jun scratched the stubble on his chin "yes I believe that's what they're called. A few people actually make the food when they arrive at a trade point and sell it there."

"So why do you keep doing this then? Why not sell your goods at one of the places?"

"Well there's a lot more money in this even if it has more risks as well."

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. "So it's all about money in the end?"

Jun waved a hand in front of him in a dismissive manner. "I like doing this, but I do want to open my own shop when I have enough money."

"Oh really mister? So you could open it here?"

"Well" Jun began in an unsteady voice "ninja villages are a tricky matter, while business may be good, there's plenty of intrigue here, and often opening a new here shop here is almost impossible without properly greasing the wheals."

_Hm, so corruption is running wild in Konoha, not exactly a surprise_. "Is it that hard mister?"

"Well as a foreigner trying to open a shop in a ninja village would naturally be seen as suspicious, but there's also the fact that the merchants here wouldn't take kindly to someone else trying to start something in what they see as their territory, add the connections they have and the merchants guild representative here and whoever wants to open a shop in Konoha will be fighting an uphill battle with a leg and arm tied behind their backs while someone's throwing boulders at them from the top and forcing them to stop at numerous places while calling the while thing completely fair and balanced. Ah sorry I'm probably boring you with this. "

"No" Naruto shook his head "don't worry mister it's all right." _Well I guess the option to become a merchant in the village can be written of with this new piece of information. Still it may not be completely dead I could sell things to the trade caravans when they come to the village._

"Well, when I do open up my own shop I'll also need to make sure I have suppliers, preferably by both water and land."

"By water mister?" he asked like it was the strangest thing he had ever heard.

Jun nodded. "Waterborne traffic is by far the easiest method of transporting goods. The first extensive trade routes are up and down the great rivers which became the backbones of early civilizations. As boats become sturdier, coastal trade extended human contact and promoted wealth. The eastern part of the Elemental Nations is the first region to develop extensive maritime trade, first between the Land of Tea, Wind and Sea, later the ships pushed in all directions, reaching the ports of the Land of Iron, the Land of Moon, the Land of Ice, the Land of Bears and then through the chain of islands of the Land of Water. "

"If it's so great then why doesn't everybody use ships? And why are there still trade caravans that travel such long distances?"

"Well" the man scratched a cheek "as great as they are, not all the countries have access to the sea, without ports the ships can't get there, some rivers that dot the continent are far to shallow to allow ships to travel, so the ships dock in the countries with ports and then the trade caravans begin to make their way through out the continent with the merchandise. Places like the Land of Spirits, the Land of Jewels, the Land of Silk, the Land of Keys, and the Land of Forests have no access to the sea and no ports of any kind; they are also lodged in between several larger countries and have to rely on the caravans for trade."

"Those are a lot of places; do they all have unique items?"

Jun scratched his stubble again; he looked like he was mulling things over. "Most of the countries have some unique items, the Land of Forests and the Land of Fire have cedar wood that is exported as top-quality timber for architecture and shipbuilding, there are also artisans in the Land of Forests that carve the wood into statues or other works of art. The locks produced in the Land of Keys are the finest on the continent, the name kind of gives it away with the Land of Silk, but never the less the silk from there is of the highest quality and people often have to preorder something in advance for years to be sure they can get some of the finest silk, the same can be said for pieces from the Land of Jewels."

Jun furrowed his eyebrows. "I know the Aburame clan here in Konoha also have a business with silk as well and the one they produce is quite valuable though it's in shorter supply. The Land of Moon on the other hand has a rare and expensive dye that complements another famous local product of theirs, fine linen, and artisans from the Land of Bears are known for their works with glass. Closer to this country, the Land of Rivers is seen as an important food centre, with the food from there traveling all over this part of the continent. The region between the lands of fire, wind and tea with Benisu Island in the middle is full of activity with trade ships traveling between all the points, some heading out along the coastline of the Land of Wind towards the other lands. Usually the Land of Sea and Tea are the ones that trade with the New World."

"The New World?" he asked his interest peaked.

"Oh, I forgot not everyone knows about it, there's another continent past the Land of Water and trade ships arrive from there from time to time."

"Does it have a name?"

Jun nodded "People call it the New World, but a translation of the name in our tongue would be Avalon."

_Avalon, so that's may be the place Yukimura referred to, I already like the name a bit more digging couldn't hurt_. "Has anyone ever been there?"

"Extremely few I remember hearing about a book that was written about the place, the trip to the continent is throat with perils, many ships have attempted to make the journey and have ended up sinking to the bottom of the ocean, it got so bad that people have all but abandoned the route to the place, people seeking their deaths or just downright insane attempt passage that way anymore. Only the ships coming from the New World seem to fare better, they usually arrive packed with merchandise and leave the same way as well, numerous trade ships and merchants travel to both the Land of Tea and the Land Sea in hopes of making a deal with the foreigners when they arrive. Though from time to time those ships travel to Benisu Island and sell their goods from there. Goods from the Azunai region, the one near Benisu Island, follow trade routes that have been established along a string of oases dotted with caravanserais."

"What are those?"

"A caravanserai?"

Naruto nodded.

"A caravanserai is a roadside inn where travelers can rest and recover from a day's journey, they support the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of trade routes covering the continent. Caravanserai's provide water for human and animal consumption and washing, some of them have elaborate baths."

"Yes, a few have… private baths." Ami said in a low husky tone and Naruto could see Jun shiver a bit and shift to a side.

Jun cleared his throat "they also keep fodder for animals and have shops for travelers where they can acquire new supplies. In addition, some shops buy goods from the traveling merchants."

"You know while I enjoy your talk of trade don't we have some place to be?" Ami asked eating an apple.

Jun looked at the apple Ami was eating. "Someone bought quite a few apples again?"

"Just sixty this time!" Ami answered in a proud voice.

Jun sighed and lowered his head shaking it. "I guess this is goodbye Naruto, come on then" he motioned towards Ami "let's go to the inn, I'm starving."

"Excellent I am going to drink so much that I vomit before I even start to feel drunk."

"Please don't, you know how you snore in your sleep when you do."

"That is cold lie you're spreading around hoping people will eventually believe it."

"Of course it is." Jun answered in a mocking tone.

The girl huffed and turned around a sparkle could be seen in her eyes; she returned and kneeled down in front of Naruto again quickly kissing him on the forehead and the tip of his nose before giving him a small hug and speaking a low tone of voice. "No matter how long it takes's eventually the pain will easy, you will find someone, don't worry about it". She gave him a small smile and left. Naruto simply stood there numbly, unsure what to make of her; he remembered a similar scene with Sayaka and Yukimura. He never heard what words Ami and Jun exchanged as they left with their carriage.

* * *

><p>"What was that about? You usually don't make such gestures, is he..." Jun left the words hand in the air.<p>

Ami shook her head. "His eyes were similar to mine before we met, such eyes should not be on the face of a child"

Jun nodded understanding her meaning.

"As for the rest well" she ran a hand through her hair and tossed it to a side with a proud and confident smirk on her lips. "I am not known as The Wise for nothing."

Jun chuckled as he wrapped one arm around Ami's shoulders and kissed her head.

"Where are we going afterwards? You look to have heard some rather interesting information."

"You can still read me like an open book" Jun sighed while Ami a small grin "with Snow in lockdown there are a lot of contracts that are being broken and a lot of merchandise that isn't being sold."

"Ah, so with the chaos there and the people trying to sell their wares for a good price one could get a nice sum of money if one sees an opportunity there, and there will be opportunity there. The people will get desperate to sell their wares and return home with a profit, with more merchandise arriving with merchandise to deliver as well the situation will only get worse with everyone trying to sell their wares and get a good deal for them."

"Yes."

"It's good then that you will have me by your side as to not get swindled."

Jun smiled and moved his hand around Ami's waist, he quickly stole a quick kiss from her. "I believe so, let's get to the inn and I'll tell you more about what I've heard and discussed."

* * *

><p>Naruto walked around looking at the different wares the caravans had, he was still uncertain what to make of the girls words, he froze mid step when he spotted something at one of the caravans.<p>

"Hey mister how much for those plants?" he asked point at a few of them.

"Huh" the man looked to where Naruto was pointing "these kid?" the man asked picking them up "You sure you want these? They're other roses that are more beautiful when they bloom, a bit more expensive but still great; I still have a few of those, I usually sell them together for variety."

Naruto shook his head. "No way! I remember seeing some of them during last summer and they looked great." _Well they did look great, it was just in the god realm; and their real selling point is the fact that one can make syrup from their petals rather then buying them for their scent or looks. _

The man shrugged "Your choice kid, tell you what I still have a couple of them if your willing to buy a few extras, I'll give you a discount on them."

"Really? That be great mister." _Well then let's see what discount we're talking about._

As Naruto began making his way out of the market place and back to his apartment he saw several small crowds gathered at a few points near the exits of the market place, after nearing the place he found out that some person was preaching about how women would descendent from the sky when the warriors fell for some reason, he couldn't hear everything that person was saying. He checked out a few of the other places, one was talking about reincarnation, another how if one reached the final heaven they would become a god and be able to marry multiple women and have a planet just for themselves.

The last one preached about some squiggly thing that boiled for people's sins. He shook his head, _apparently religious nut jobs travel with the caravans as well,_ it wasn't that surprising, he had read about it happening but it was different actually seeing it occur. He doubted anyone knew about the wars the gods fought or how many gods died at the end of the age of the gods, he figured that a lie if it sounded good enough would attract people, being able to marry multiple women and become a god definitely sounded great for men. It didn't matter to him, he stopped seeing another preacher, this one looked ragged and he would personally call the person more of a madman then anything else.

"Thrice shall they break, thrice shall they rise

The child of pure blood shall arise to lead them

The herald will break the earth to reshape it

In death's foot steps the chosen one walks

Fire and death shall meet

The first under shadow

The second under stone giants

The third under a falling star

The fourth…."

He tuned the man out, he had to be insane, besides he had plans as soon as he got to the apartment he would sort the items he had bought, eat then wash and go to bed, it was high time he returned to Yukimura's god realm.

* * *

><p>Naruto took another sip of his tea as he finished telling Yukimura and Sayaka about what had occurred while he had been in Konoha the past weeks, the three of them where in the living room.<p>

Yukimura was rubbing his chin in a thoughtful manner. "Well that's certainly surprising to say the least, first off congratulations on what you have accomplished so far, we're both proud of you."

Naruto smiled.

"Hai Naruto-kun, you've done well."

He beamed at their words. "You're not mad that I made mistakes?"

Sayaka shook his head. "On one front you were up against someone who's been dealing with politics and manipulation for years Naruto-kun, it was always going to be a tough fight."

"Yes, what's important is that you didn't panic and that you kept your cool thinking on your feet and making good use of the situations you were in."

"Thank you."

"And about the other things, well we're going to need some time to think about them, the name Avalon doesn't sound familiar and the girl you mentioned may have some sort of bloodline and not necessarily be a supernatural creature, either way I'll look through my memories for someone matching her description or close to it." Yukimura finished placing his tea cup back on the table.

Naruto nodded. "There are actually a few things I wanted to ask you. It's about the summons."

"That faction" Yukimura began.

"You know them?" he asked tilting his head to the side.

Yukimura nodded. "To a degree, a few existed during the time of the gods, either created by the gods, or in the aftermath of some of the wars of the gods, another part of the summons were created thanks to Rikudo Sennin, and they swore allegiance to him, those of the age of the gods joined him later as well. I don't particularly like them myself, and you are right, the Hokage seems to be hinting at you becoming a summoner in the near future. Well although a summoning contract would be useful, I would stay away from such a thing for the time being, the toad contract looks like its part of some grand scheme the Hokage has in store for you."

Naruto nodded.

"Is that all Naruto-kun?" Sayaka asked placing her tea cup on the table as well.

Naruto shook his head. "I wanted to ask about the attack when I was born and the Uchiha clan." Naruto noticed how both Yukimura and Sayaka tensed at his question.

It was Sayaka who began in a calm tone. "You have to understand that the attack wasn't his fault Naruto-kun, Yukimura did not willingly attack the village, a lot more occurred that night, some things are still not clear to us even now, we will tell you later when we have more information, until that time we ask that you trust us on this matter."

"Alright" _could the Uchiha clan have been involved in the attack?_ "is the clan that bad?"

Yukimura scowled something Naruto hadn't ever seen him do. "That clan and their eyes are a blight on this planet Naruto, I would advise to keep your distance from them unless absolutely necessary, go to that shop if you need to advance your plans but be careful around them."

"You have met them before?"

The scowl on Yukimura's face deepened. "You can say we have a history."

"If that's all Naruto-kun we can get back to your training"

"Hai"

* * *

><p>It was during dinner that night that Naruto remembered something he had wanted to ask the two. "Ano, I wanted to ask about the books in the Konoha library, did you find anything interesting?"<p>

Yukimura shook his head. "Not much, there was no information about Avalon there, a lot of the books are very old and need to be brought up to date with recent advancements, there were a few things here and there that warranted a second look."

"Anything useful?"

"We've looked through them and compared some of the information there with what Yukimura knew, the results were not exactly encouraging, but we've found a few that are acceptable, they have been placed in the library on a special shelf, I'll take you there once we finish Naruto-kun."

"What about those books the Hokage gave me?"

Sayaka scowled. "Bah, they did nothing more then glorify Konoha and its past Hokages; they were only useful as toilet paper and for starting a fire."

Naruto laughed while chewing. "I thought so to."

"Naruto-kun chew with you mouth closed." Sayaka winked at him. "Great minds to think alike"

"Oh, on that note I have found out some interesting things about the seals in your room and can change them to a degree." Yukimura told him rubbing his hands together.

"Really? how?"

"It can wait until after dinner you two."

One hour later

"Now about those seals, when you were at the library and I used my magic I discovered that there were seals on the outside of the library as well, most likely the Hokage has them placed through out the whole village, he probably uses them to keep on eye on things through out the place."

Naruto scowled. "Especially me"

"Yes, I'm not sure if the seals are placed in the clan compounds as well though, I doubt that, if the clans ever got wind of it they would be in an uproar, most likely they are just placed in certain parts through out the village. Now the good news is that I can modify them a bit to give you a head's up for when the Hokage is using them, and add a small foggy effect to gain you a few more seconds before the Hokage can see you."

"That sounds great, so I'll have to go around the village and add to the others as well right?"

"In a few places yes, we should still be careful as not give away to much. The great news is that we can train you to sense when the seals are being used around you."

"How?"

"The seals work on a frequency; we will train you to be able to detect it. It's not the easiest training though."

Naruto nodded. "So do you two experiment with stuff like this all the time?"

"Huh?"

"I think Naruto-kun is asking what we do most of the time, aren't you?"

Naruto nodded.

"Ah that, well we spar constantly in different forms, others are trying to recreate spells to use with the magic in this world and a few to change them in jutsu, while others are going through my memories from the time as the Juubi, Kyuubi and before that, analyzing things from a different points of view and looking for anything we can use, that's to give a few examples."

"How can you do that?"

"We are multi present here in the realm, but only to a degree."

"Now Naruto-kun, we have thought a new delightful training regime for you."

Naruto gulped. "What does it involve?"

Sayaka smiled sweetly. "Oh, why spoil the surprise, let's just say that it will help you keep calm in rough spots and have your mind always searching for a way out no matter how dire the situation."

"Ok" he replied in a meek tone, the training would be painful he was certain of it.

* * *

><p>What Sayaka meant by delightful new training regime was in fact a dreadful experience for him; she through him in all sorts of impossible situations and told him to find a way out. Naruto shook his head; for the first task Sayaka had thrown him in a dungeon cell and told him to get out of it with anyway possible. He failed at the task, no matter what he tried he couldn't find way out, Sayaka later showed him how a tile in the wall was weak and could have been dislodged from there causing the wall leading to the unlocked cell near him to collapse. The second time, when he had been locked in a closet he managed to do get out of the place by doing something similar as Sayaka had done, only this time through the ceiling. The later tasks got much more difficult and required more inventive solutions, he failed more often then he succeeded.<p>

Naruto was currently meditating atop a hill overlooking a green valley with a river running down the middle where animals were drinking water from it, the smell of fresh cut grass was all around him and the sun was setting in the distance.

"It's a nice view isn't it?" Yukimura asked sitting down next to him.

He nodded.

"So you think Avalon is your destination and dream."

"Yes"

Yukimura sighed. "Alright, just be prepared for things to change, you never know how dreams can change overtime with what life throws at you."

Naruto shook his head. "I don't think mine will ever change."

Yukimura gave him a sad smile. "I thought the same thing long ago; that changed one day though, something else took it's place and I didn't care as much as I thought I would when it occurred, my views had changed and my first dream seemed unimportant, I tossed it aside for something else."

Naruto remained silent for a moment. "Alright I'll keep that in mind but I don't think that will ever change though, I don't know what could do something like that."

"You never know what life will throw at you" Yukimura ruffled Naruto's hair. "Come on Sayaka's made dinner; we can continue your training after that."

* * *

><p>It was during a break from his taijutsu training while in the dojo that Naruto approached another subject he wanted to ask the two.<p>

"Now that I'm joining the academy if they ask about my goals or dreams at the introduction what should I say? I don't think freedom from Konoha will win me any friends."

Both Sayaka and Yukimura spoke at the same time. "Becoming a legendary shinobi" "Creating a new clan."

Sayaka turned towards Yukimura with narrowed eyes. "I think mine sounds better, the Hokage has been filling his head with how great the past Hokages were, all of them were legendary shinobi, he can simply say that he wants the same thing, to be as know as them."

Yukimura shook his head. "Which may worry the Hokage about a desire for great power on his part."

"The books he gave Naruto mentions how Hashirama and Tobirama were know even before the village was founded, the Sandaime gained his reputation during the wars, the Yondaime gained his reputation during the last war, and was later chosen as Hokage" She shrugged "If his path leads him to becoming Hokage that would out of his hands."

A small panicked look crossed over Naruto's face. "I really don't want to be Hokage though or even considered for such a thing."

Yukimura nodded. "Hence why the clan idea is better, you can argue that a clan is one big family, something that could be explained by your early life and you wanting a family."

Sayaka shook her head. "A clan may not be an ambitious enough goal for the Hokage with all he has been spoon feeding him."

"And not wanting to become Hokage doesn't fit either if you follow that road of thought." Yukimura countered.

"It does if he claims that he isn't worthy enough for the title and that he would prefer to focus on such a thing. The books mention other strong shinobi that Konoha produced, Kaede Nagase, Toka Senju, Kōsaka Shigure all great shinobi of renown from Konoha that never became Hokage. Sakumo Hatake was a famous and powerful ninja of Konohagakure who during his lifetime held fame that is said to overshadow even that of the Sannin and was considered Hokage material. Naruto could claim that he desires to be like them, that would sit well with the Hokage because he would still be fighting for Konoha."

"Why not both?" he asked.

Both Yukimura and Sayaka looked at him with wide eyes unblinking before Yukimura coughed and they both looked away. "Um well, yes that could work actually." Yukimura carefully scratched one of his eyebrows.

"Indeed." Sayaka still had her back turned towards the both of them.

* * *

><p>Both Sayaka and Yukimura gave him a few parting words before he returned to Konoha for the week, he was glad that at least he could return at the end of the week to the god realm again.<p>

"In any case pay attention to what your fellow student's desire, their words and actions, especially watch your teachers' actions."

Sayaka cleared her throat "Don't be surprised if you'll have trouble making friends, older children often don't want to make friends with those smaller than them."

"Hai"

Sayaka knelt down and hugged him. "Good luck Naruto-kun."

As soon as Naruto disappeared from the realm Sayaka turned towards Yukimura. "We are eventually going to have to tell him about what lies hidden in the sealed of part of the building on his floor."

Yukimura nodded. "Yes, but how do we tell a child that there's a dead body buried not far from his home?"

* * *

><p>A small blue haired white eyed little girl stared forward as the final preparations were made to the pyre, her gaze was full of sadness because of the occasion; the wood had already been placed along with a special kind of oil to ensure it burned thoroughly.<p>

It was a symbolic gesture she knew that much, she had overheard her father talking to another family member about the event. It wasn't that long ago that her family had taken a picture together, shortly after the birth of her little sister, everything seemed better back then, it seemed all but perfect, even with what had happened two years ago, and now her mother was dead, her body would be burned somewhere else and her ashes scattered to the winds.

She would never see her mother again, she would never hear her sing again; she remembered how her mother sang to her little sister when it was time for her to sleep, she remembered her mother's voice being so soothing, so calm and gentle. It was something else she had now lost, just like she would never feel her mother's warmth, her mother had been the only one to help her with the night terrors she had been having ever since the incident.

She noticed a family member approaching her father with a lighten torch and her father nodded and took the torch then began slowly walking towards the funeral pyre, she saw him lower his head for a moment before throwing the torch on the pyre, a moment later it suddenly caught fire, her father returned to his position next to her. She looked at him for a brief moment, his face was as impassive as ever, she couldn't tell if he had cried because of the loss or not.

Her gaze returned to the pyre, it burned brightly and radiated warmth, it was fitting, her mother had been the same for her, a small distance away she could hear her littler sister crying and her attendant trying to calm her down, she was so young, only born last year, she knew that her sister would never remember their mother she was much to young for such a thing. As she felt something on her face and placed a hand there, she realized that she was crying again, when she had first heard that her mother had died, she had cried so much she thought she would never be able to do so again, now at least she knew differently.

As the pyre burned away she knew that soon she would have to return to her home, the place felt so dark to her, ever since her mother's death it had felt like a great shadow had fallen over the place and would not leave. The food tasted bland and darkness seemed to permeate every corner of her home, she didn't want to return there but she didn't have a choice.

When the pyre burned out the family members began to leave, one member of her family stopped in front of her looking disappointingly down at her. "Just like your father." The man shook his head and left after that.

She blinked and looked at the man unsure of his words, once the other family members left her father at last decided that it was time to leave as well.

"We will return to the compound Hinata."

She swallowed heavily and her voice sounded harsh from her crying "Yyyyes father." as they walked away she was glad that at least little Hanabi had stopped crying, Hinata look back at the pyre one last time before walking back with the others towards the Hyuga compound.

* * *

><p>A small brown haired girl let out a breath as she lay on her bed, her muscles were sore and she couldn't feel her arms and legs anymore, every fiber of her body felt like it was on fire. She had worked in the market today helping to unload merchandise for the trade caravans at various shops.<p>

_All that hard work for a few coins_.

The orphanage caretakers had made it clear that she and the other children her age would have to find work, she still couldn't join the shinobi academy yet as she was too young for such a thing. She didn't want to be at the orphanage, she had been living on the streets for a while and doing well enough, stealing what she needed until someone had caught her and she ended up at the orphanage.

She let out a tired breath, it wasn't that long since she ended up in Konoha, not even a year by her knowledge, she gritted her teeth thinking about the day she had ended up in Konoha, it hadn't been her choice but she had been making the best of it. She hoped she would never have to see that women ever again, she knew that at one point she had a last name but now that was gone as well and she was just like the other orphans.

Once she arrived at the orphanage she had looked for her blond haired blue eyed little friend but she hadn't found him and no one knew anything about him. She hoped he had gotten adopted, while taking a break during work she could have sworn that she caught a brief glimpse of him in the market; she hoped he was happy wherever he was.

Things at the orphanage weren't exactly pretty, there were a lot of orphans present and the conditions suffered because of it, for some reason most of the old caretakers had left the village and the new ones were still learning how things worked. She grimaced almost all of orphans didn't have a last name, very few actually did and the rest were free to chose one for themselves as it would be needed later on, they seemed so happy about talking about coming up with some cool family name for themselves, they treated it like a joke. _It's like they don't know how important such a thing is. _

Using all of her willpower she managed to close her right fist, around her the other orphans that had worked in the market were just as exhausted and sprawled out on their own beds, but they all needed to keep an eye open in case someone of the other children tried to steal their money, she had already punched someone earlier who had tried stealing from her. Her eyelids felt just as heavy as some of the boxes she had help to unload, but she had be careful, she couldn't sleep to long or to deep, as her eyelids began to be to much to keep open she closed her left fist and hoped that no one would try anything against her anymore.

_One day my name will be know just like the shinobi from legends. _

* * *

><p>A small fair-skinned boy with dark, bushy, brown hair and dark, narrow eyes who wore a pair of dark sunglasses, a grey jacket with red buttons and a high upturned collar with the addition of a sea-green hood, stood meditating in a small forested area, small beetles flew around him. It was in this same area that he had lost his brother figure only a few months ago.<p>

_That man with the bandages and the black robe took him,_ both he and his brother figure had been approached by the man to join his forces, the man's interest was on him but his brother figure had volunteered himself in his place and the man had accepted after his brother revealed the name of his biological father.

That same day his brother left the compound was when his father had informed him that the chances of the two seeing each other again were very slim, and if they did he should be on his guard, he felt the tension in clan compound after the man had left. The man had the authority to recruit clan members for his special forces and he could have ended up there, something that his parents felt adamant about avoiding.

Given how his parent's insects behaved when the two spoke about the man, he realized what had occurred, his brother Torune had sacrificed himself to save him instead.

A cold wind blew against him ruffling his cloths, though January had not passed yet already several plants had already bloomed, he watched as his beetles flew around him, he would in the future succeed in breeding beetles that would inherited traces of his brother Torune's insects, he had already begun studying the bug breeding technique needed to produce new beetles. He still wanted to remain close to his brother-figure in some way, and the beetles were logically the best way.

It would he knew still take years to succeed as the subject was complicated and required knowledge of other techniques as well, he was grateful that he had his clan's library to rely on, it had plenty of books on the matter and scrolls that documented previous attempts made related to the subject. The few beetles he had from his brother were sadly the last thing he had to remember his brother by, judging by the way his parents and the other clan's men behaved when that man's named was mention it was clear that him and his brother may become enemies in the future.

His eyebrows furrowed as he called his beetles back and thought of that person, _that man called Danzo that even the Hokage seems to respect. _He slowly got up and began making his way back to the compound, his clan had been busy today with the long term trade caravans arriving in Konoha, meeting with their business partners and suppliers, he hoped that there had been no problems with the deals as his mother had told that she had ordered a box of different varieties of winter melons that would be delivered when the trade caravans arrived, they would help to improve his mood.

* * *

><p>Wazuka Yamanaka checked another name on her clipboard after looking into the padded room. <em>And that's Mototsune Iseri as well<em>. Wazuka sighed closing the small window used to check on the man before continuing through the hallway, there was only one resident she needed to check on before finishing her rounds. As she walked through the hallway she remembered how nervous she had been when she had began her job years ago and first walked through the same hallway, the unease she had felt back then because of what she thought was the wrongness the place seemed to exuded had given her nightmares for weeks.

Konoha's mental institute was not a particularly well know place but it still existed and had it's purpose, with the nature of a shinobi's line of work it was a given that some would eventually face all sort of issues and not all of them physical, mental issues were just as common as physical ones. Her clan was heavily involved in running the place but had accepted other people who did not belong to the clan in helping to run the place.

While the institute wasn't as well known as the two jails in Konoha it was structured in a similar fashion with multiple levels to it above and below ground. The levels above ground held the institute's offices as well as places where the clan members would hold sessions with the people who needed consulting; that was the first the level.

The second level was the place for people that had problems and needed to be admitted, the time of their stay varied but eventually most were released. The third and fourth levels were broken down into several sublevels, with the less severe cases in the first sublevels while the others were sent to the lower sublevels.

Once a person ended up in the third level it meant that their chances of a recovery were small, the lower the person was sent in the sublevels the more their chances of a recovery dropped. Wazuka shivered, the fourth level had some of the most deranged people the village had to offer locked up down there, the reason those people didn't receive a kunai to the throat were numerous but in her opinion none were sufficient to warrant taking care of all of them. Some of the residents locked up in the institute were studied in to see how their madness progressed, some in hopes of discovering potential treatments that could be used later on while others hoped to find early warning signs of mental diseases and trauma.

Wazuka reached the last room, she looked into the padded cell where the youngest of their residents was located, the girl's emerald green eyes were dull and her gaze looked to be a thousand miles away. The girl she realized would never experience any of the joys of life as she was and with the nonexistent progress she was making it would never occur either. The girl was a rather special case, while she herself wasn't privy to the exact reason, something about the girl's condition had warranted a thorough and continuous examination of some of the higher up clan members. The girl's parents looked so devastated when they came and visited her last week_, she really does resemble them_, she didn't know what exactly had happened but an incident had occurred and the girl had snapped for some reason and hurt her twin sister before being subdued, after that the girl had ended up in the institute.

Wazuka closed the small window to the padded cell and checked the girl's name on the list before moving forward and seeing her colleague waving at her, she smiled at the man, Harumi Chiba, a part of her was jealous of him, he didn't have a clan and was free of the backstabbing occurring in one, even in a clan as her's that was more tight nit, tension still existed and backdoor politics and deal making occurred, the loss of one of the clan's youngest members was proof of that. She cast another look towards the hallway she had come from before moving towards her colleague; it was just another normal day for her in the end.

* * *

><p>A small girl with long reddish-brown hair, thick eyebrows and blue eyes with a mole under her left eye who wore a blue gi with a cream colored vest over it and blue shorts stared at her parents graves, she had brought fresh flowers to them. Life in her village had been horrible for her after her parents passed away, there was no one would who would take care of her and she had to scrap by in whatever way she could manage. What was worse was that now was she had gotten sick as well and the people in village had taken to avoiding her fearing that she had the same disease that her parents had died from.<p>

She still had her home for the time but whispers were flying about how the place was cursed and that is should be burned to the ground to make sure other people don't get sick from it as well. _At least for now they're afraid of coming near our home._ She coughed while cleaning the graves and one thought ran through her head. _Maybe just maybe with my sickness I'll be able to join you soon, mother, father; _she smiled touching their graves,_ then we could be together again just like before. _

* * *

><p>A small boy with fair skin and short, spiky, red hair with pale blue-green eyes, no distinctive pupils or eyebrows and tanuki-like black eye rings, wearing a beige poncho-like shawl over a short-sleeved black T-shirt, a white obi around his waist, dark blue pants that were rolled back several times at the hem, revealing the inside cloth to be grey, and black sandals stared at the empty play ground in front of him.<p>

He had once again tried desperately to make friends and be friendly towards others but had failed again, everybody appeared to be wary of him and kept their distance no matter what he did, even his siblings stayed away from him for some reason. _At least I have uncle, he never runs away from me and he's always there for me. _His uncle's words still ringed through his head; _a wound of a heart is different from a flesh wound. Unlike a flesh wound, there are no ointments to heal it, and there are times when they never heal. _

He smiled when he saw his uncle approaching and waved at him, his uncle had arranged a small place for him to watch the moon at night when he could sleep on top of the building where they lived. _Even if everyone else doesn't like me at least I have uncle and that won't ever change._

"Still no luck making friends?" the man asked holding a grocery bag in one hand.

He shook his head. "No uncle."

The man gave him a small sad smile. "Well that's alright, maybe you'll have more luck next time."

"Maybe." He responded in a meek tone of voice. "But I have you uncle."

"Don't worry about it, that's what families for."

"Then what about big sister and brother?"

The man's expression saddened. "They will come around, just give them some time."

He nodded his head. "Uncle, do you think that there will be a full moon tonight?"

"I don't know, you want to stay up again?"

He nodded. "Yes, it would be great to see it again the night always feels so special when there's one."

The man shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky now come one lets go home I've bought salted tongue and gizzard for someone's birthday."

"Really" he responded in a cheerful tone of voice "that's great, tonight is going to be special."

_You have no idea how special this night will be Gaara. _

* * *

><p>Review away<p>

Constructive criticism or pointing out possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.

Check out the poll on my page and the forum where the other polls are.

* * *

><p>Next up is the first try at the academy and a character visit's the god realm with Naruto, place your bets on who it is.<p>Chapter 7, just 12505 words, completed on 18 04 2014, the chapter had roughly 10000 words a month ago but because of real life it got shelved for a long time.

- Wow so this chapter was drawn out no joke, at first I wanted to have the market part and then move on and write about his time at the academy, sadly the market part grew a lot more and I ended up deciding to move the academy part to the next chapter. The market part should have been around 4000 words and the 8600 words with the academy sadly it just wasn't the case, I tried mixing a bit of world building with the market dialogue, sadly I fell that it was more of a disappointment the anything else as I add to much stuff in there that could have been cut. Now for the other last part of the chapter with the other children, at first I wasn't planning on writing it but then when I realized that I was coming up short of the 12600 words I ended up writing it and I'm not that sorry about it. I actually liked showing some of the stuff about the characters, though I admit I could have done a better job writing it.

- Did anybody else notice how the night sky in Naruto seems rather empty? No stars just the moon.

- The info about the caravans is from Wikipedia, where would we be without it? There's some very interesting stuff about trade routes and trade itself.

- Does anybody know who the unnamed children are? It's not that hard to tell.

- Here's hoping a new Gotrek and Felix novel get's released soon.

**Story recommendations : **

**The Wanderers** By: D4rKn3sS

Long and epic as hell

**Contract of the Shinigami** By: KyuubiGoku

Great story, even if the pairing may make a few people uncomfortable, it makes incest seem believable and is very well written.

**Titania and The Hunter** By: Master Attlon

Good, and doesn't have the same happy atmosphere at the start as other fics, the bonds between the two are forged in a more impressive fire.

**In Flight** By: gabriel blessing

A Fate/stay night + Sekirei Crossover, all I can say is holly crap is it good, and it's complete.


	8. Chapter 8 : Insolvable solitude

**I do not own Naruto**

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – _normal thoughts_  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><em><strong>Listen<strong>_** – ****_biju, higher being thoughts_**

**Chapter 8 : Insolvable solitude**

The night before the start of the academy Naruto had felt very nervous about the whole thing, luckily the trip to the god realm had helped to calm his nerves down, and now in the morning he had a feeling of anxiety about starting the academy. He had awakened earlier than usual and managed to watch the sun rising from atop of his building, it helped to calm him down to a degree. After finishing his morning routine, Naruto checked himself over and nodded, he took a small notebook, some pencils and a bag with him before leaving for the academy.

* * *

><p>The speech the academy head master gave out was in one word plain in Naruto's opinion, oh it went on about the will of fire, about what a great honor it was for them to attend such a prestigious place and to take their first steps on becoming shinobi for the village, it all sounded so plain to him, it was like something that had been written down many years ago in hopes of influencing young impressionable minds, and by the looks of it he saw from the others it had worked.<p>

There was he believed some fire in the speech of the head master, the man looked to actually believe what he was saying; Naruto actually spotted an older shinobi shedding a tear at the speech while the others had a more neutral expression. The speech even included how the Yondaime Hokage had passed through the academy as well and sat on the same benches as they would sit.

As the head master continued his speech Naruto looked around, he couldn't see any clan members in the current batch, _maybe I just don't see them_; he chuckled when he remembered what the admission requirements were, one must love the village and hope to help preserve peace and prosperity, _something that I didn't care about_, have a mind that will not yield, able to endure hard training and work, _oh you have no I idea the kind of hard training I've endured and can endure_, be healthy in mind and body_, I'm certain I'm more healthy then most people here on both accounts. _

Only if those conditions were met would admission to the Academy be granted, he honestly laughed at that when he got back home, it was so easy, _no different then joining some sort of club, at least they had the body requirements, though a sports club would have a similar requirement. All in all it must be to give everyone a chance at becoming a shinobi for the village, it certainly makes it look like a viable career path and it's easy to enter the Academy._

Naruto cast another look at the Academy, it was quite large and it was composed of several buildings which looked to have been were erected over time; the buildings had the odd design choice similar to the rest of the village. He assumed he was in front of the main building of the Academy, the building had a the tree in front of it which had also had a swing on it, and a giant sign with the symbol for Fire on it.

_Wouldn't the village have built a new building entirely by now? They should have the funding for it. By the looks of it, new buildings were added as time passed and the need arose; why not build a new one, based on the existing building but with a few changes? It has been a long time since the rule of the second Hokage, plenty of time in which to construct a new one, and they did have some time between all the wars, could it have been the Kyuubi attack that set their finances back so much? Perhaps another suitable location hasn't been found. Well it's something to investigate should I have the time and desire, perhaps I can use it as a cover for something else._

After the head master finished his speech they were all divided into separate classes, he did a quick head count of everybody after they were all lined up, they were six classes and roughly thirty students per class, the last two classes were each missing a student, they were one hundred and seventy eight in total_. I wonder how many will pass the first year much less graduate at the end,_ looking around Naruto cringed as he saw a few of the children from the orphanage in the lines, worse some were in his as well. _Great it's going to be an uphill battle, rather silly of me to have expected it to be something else. Chances are the teacher will be against me and now a part of my classmates will be as well. _

After the all of the students were separated into their future classes and gathered around their teachers who introduced themselves they made their way to the classroom that had been assigned to their group. The classroom was large and had a high ceiling, even the blackboard itself was rather large, the walls were painted white and there were a few plants near the windows. In front of the blackboard was the podium, situated far from the students' desks and put in a position where the teacher could view everyone at once.

The floor was elevated towards the back, and it looked like one needed to climb a small hill to get to the last bench. _Maybe that's normal._ The wooden floor looked to be worn out, it's once brown color was now replaced with a dirty grey, the benches themselves looked to have taken a beating or two and had old markings on them, all in all the classroom reminded him of his apartment building, functional but in need of a renovation.

He remembered what Yukimura had taught him about social circles and how a hierarchy would eventually form in the classroom, he would scout out everything and make plans before acting, rather then placing himself at the top of one, it was best to just sit back and watch events unfold for the time. He could if the need arose trample the leaders of the hierarchy later and take their place or watch the others run around trying to repair the damage; that he realized sounded amusing to him.

Naruto quickly sat in the front at the bench near the door; he turned and looked at the two teachers that would be responsible for his group, the two had told them to think about the kind of shinobi they wanted to be and answer when their names were called. The first teacher he laid eyes on was Katsue Miwa, a young woman of medium height she had an oblong shaped face, hazel eyes, a small nose and long brown hair that was kept secure with a headband.

The second teacher was Kafu Okuma a tall middle aged man with a diamond shaped face, tan skin, shoulder length black hair and a thick mustache, his eyebrows Naruto noted were very well kept and even thinner then Katsue's, the man appeared to have problems with his left hand and leg from what he could observe.

"Naruto Uzumaki". It was Kafu who had called out his name.

_Finally, it's my turn._"Here" he raised his hand and in a cheerful tone of voice continued "I want to become a legendary shinobi and create my own clan."

The reactions that he could observe from his classmates varied, some looked at him strangely, and some bewildered, a few neutral, and from those at the orphanage came snickers and crude glares. His teachers reactions is what caught his attention, judging by the way Katsue scowled she must have wanted to burn him with it's intensity, while Kafu had started getting red in the face and he could see a vein on the man's forehead throb, it looked like the man would explode before he calmed himself down.

"Well then" the man began in a steady voice "anybody can dream" Naruto smiled, _maybe he isn't so bad, maybe I just misjudging him_, "no matter how utterly unrealistic and impossible that dream is." Naruto's face fell. _Or maybe I'm an idiot for believing such a thing._

Naruto's smiled dropped for a moment before a fierce determined look crossed his face. "I will still become one just watch."

The man looked at him with a deadpan expression. "Kid the day you become a legendary shinobi is the day I eat my own boiled underwear." That elicited a round of laughter from the others in the classroom.

Naruto smiled "I'll hold you to that one day sensei. Just you watch!" he pointed an arm at his teacher while smiling.

The man rolled his eyes. "Sure you will child, you can think about your future legend during detention"

Naruto's eyes widened. "What did I do wrong I just answered your question?"

The man looked at him like it was the simplest thing in the world "You aren't the brightest one are you kid, hit your head one too many times while still wearing diapers?" that got another round of laughter from the class. "And judging by your looks that was just yesterday"

Now the classroom exploded in laughter, even Katsue had stopped scowling to laugh at him.

Naruto grit his teeth and tightened his fists under the bench, he was sure they were white under it.

"I never told you to tell us what kind of shinobi you wanted to be just to think about it, and the fact that you mouthed off to a teacher, that just adds to your detention." The man shook his head in a dismissive manner. "Congratulations for getting detention on the first day of the Academy future legendary shinobi" Another small round of laughter could be heard in the classroom, Naruto noticed how Kafu turned towards the students. "Now, don't laugh at your fellow student, no matter how deserved such a thing is, even he can become a shinobi. Not an important one mind you, like a gate guard, such a thing is still important, but perhaps with hard work, persistence and a great deal of time he could become an assistant to those who maintain and repair the training fields." Another round of laughter followed, this time more hushed, Kafu turned towards him again "Why you could become a ninja toilet cleaner, truly a legend amongst legends" the man raised both of his arms to emphasize the point, that broke the dam, as the class was filled with laughter again.

By now Naruto was red in the face, and he had shed a few tears, he was gritting his teeth, and knew he had drawn blood from his fists. _I will become one just to spite him, and then after he lays there beaten at my feet, then and only then will I kill him._

Kafu made a sign for everybody to calm down. "Now now we've had our fun for the day, just deserved as it was, it's time to continue, I'm sure our future legend will entertain us again some other time as well."

Naruto closed his eyes and calmed down, breathing steadily again. _One day, just you wait._

* * *

><p>After two months, Naruto knew that continuing the academy, judging by the way things were going, would be a waste of time on his part. Almost all of the teachers he meet seemed to be bothered by his presence to a degree, a few showed down right hatred, others animosity to some extent, he guessed that three percent treated him neutral, but even those refused to say anything if the other teachers were around and acted against him.<p>

Apparently a part of the new teachers were shinobi who had been wounded in the Kyuubi attack and only took the job because of the need to pay the bills. Now they apparently thought that this was their chance for some long overdue payback. _So much for professional conduct, I wonder if they acted like this during missions._

The two teachers responsible for his class, one C as he found out they were named, were amongst the worst of the known lot, Kafu had been a skilled taijutsu user and was regarded as an up and coming shinobi, his start had been rising, but it never got of the ground as he was wounded in the Kyuubi attack and never recovered, the difficulties he had with his left arm and leg certainly lent such a thing credence. Katsue did not have any visible wounds, he guessed that she lost someone important in the attack; she looked far too young to have been an active shinobi at the time of the attack, but he could be mistaken.

Answering a question during class would have Kafu turn the damn answer around in ten ways to make him look stupid, one way or another, Katsue looked to take great pleasure in grading his test papers as harshly as she could. Not writing a complete answer, well a complete one from her point of view which he didn't know how it looked like, would get his answer cut. Writing a short answer would yet again get it cut, not enough or too much space between words had points deducted as well, and he got points cut for not being able to properly orient the words in the middle of the test page.

He had managed to get a look at some of his classmate's test papers and the differences were huge between them, some still had misspelled words, and incomplete answers, and yet they still got higher marks than him. He wanted to take those papers that he had saved, and shove them down the woman's throat.

The worst thing about the test papers though came later, and this he realized was something that added to his less than stellar academic reputation, it was that some of his test papers were forged. He wasn't sure if Katsue had done it, but it was a possibility, someone had managed to forge his handwriting and made plenty of changes to the test later on. Crossing out words and writing other ones above them, cutting answers out entirely, and then rewriting the whole damn thing making with different answers. They were so bold that he had seen them after a test switch out his test sheet with another one they had written out beforehand, he only got the score for that one, a miserable one of course. After he realized this Yukimura started giving him lessons about forgery, it wasn't his best subject but he helped in what way he could. Sayaka had made it clear that heads would roll when she got out followed by more words that he did not believe should be repeated.

Sadly with the mask of a more innocent persona and he wouldn't say stupid but it wasn't that far of the mark he couldn't do anything about it, being able to spot the mistakes the teachers made would just raise too many questions now, he had to handed it to them though the way the sabotage was conducted could be explained well enough, they made sure to cover their tracks so only a long and serious investigation would be able uncover something.

The teachers even started making a paper trail that if one followed and believed would make him out to be a bad seed that caused trouble in the classroom, was lazy, and refused to learn anything no matter how much the hard working teachers tried, that he was a general disruptive element in the classroom that dragged others near him down to his level. For this one he tipped his hat to Katsue, it was well done she had started moving the students that had low test scores and were troublemakers near him so it indeed looked like everyone near him was getting dragged down by a disruptive element, namely him.

The final blow came from his classmates, who were all older then him, it was bad enough trying to make friends with someone older then him, but after seeing how the teachers treated him many choose to stay away fearing equal treatment, it didn't help that some that the teachers noticed those being some what friendly to him and subsequently those students got asked more questions during class. He couldn't begrudge them for staying away given the teachers treatment, he could however begrudge them the words of his dear old friends from the orphanage who started bad mouthing him, a few he observed had parents who seemed to beam when they bad mouthed him. Subsequently his reputation was in the toilet, even children from the other classes were wary of him having heard of his less then good reputation.

His consolation was that from what he had observed almost none of his fellow students had any true potential and thus weren't necessarily worth the time he would waste with trying to befriend them, even if he badly wanted to make some friends. A lot of them were civilians, with a good dose of orphans whose parentage was unknown, those who came from a ninja family or had a ninja relative stayed far away from him. Sadly besides a few none seem to take things seriously, they were treating the academy like a joke, like being a shinobi would be some easy job that they would get the hang of easily enough. Perhaps some could eventually gain enough skill to reach and hold a low key position or perhaps a middle one; from what he had read making and disarming traps didn't require a lot of chakra, those rare few that had a genjutsu thrown into the mix were the ones that required some skill in detecting and dispelling genjutsu.

The only use he could see for most of his classmates was that of a meat shield and cannon fodder, with the way they had acted he wouldn't hesitate in sending some in a trap to disarm it by springing it. _A shame that there aren't any clan members present this year they would have been useful to gauge their clan's reaction to me, perhaps with a few of them present things would have been different in some way or another._

He realized that while at the academy he wasn't getting anything done, he had two goals that he wanted to accomplish at while at the academy, to make some friends and get a good education, while Yukimura and Sayaka did their best they didn't have knowledge about an education from his world. The two had gone over the books from the library and others Yukimura had read and were doing their best to fill in the holes the teachers created.

He smiled if it weren't for two he could almost see himself becoming what the teachers made him out to be, their treatment of him would have made him become an academic disaster, he was once again grateful for their presence. He had hoped to learn about the shinobi arts of his world, Yukimura and Sayaka had managed to mesh together a shinobi training program for him from the different shinobi arts that Yukimura had learned from the various worlds he had visited. Mixing chakra into them was the real hard part that the two of them had problems solving, a few of the other shinobi arts had magic thrown in it and the two were attempting to replace it with chakra as well.

Personally he rather enjoyed the arts that didn't require the use any chakra or magic, pure old fashioned skill seemed best for him, some of the skills Yukimura taught him were certainly like that. Even if he himself didn't have chakra to enhance his skills while training, Yukimura and Sayaka used their superior senses to spot and correct him during stealth training, Yukimura had recreated whole cities that he had visited and had him train there in various ways, from sneaking around and making it from one end of the city to the other while avoiding the guards and people, to robbing stores and people. All in all he found their teachings superior to what his world could offer, but the two still insisted he try and get an education with the shinobi arts of his world.

His only real success came from two weeks ago when after a prank that had targeted the teacher's library which resulted in coloring one of its walls with some paint, he had used it as a cover and while standing still cleaning the wall, Yukimura had channeled his magic through his feet and copied all the instruction manuals the teachers had, the fact that he also copied the entire current school curriculum as well as the future one from the older classes, manuals and old tests that were given, and mostly likely would be given from the older classes, was just an added bonus for him.

Yukimura had discovered that best students of all the classes would eventually be moved together to form a new class, then the second best and so on until they reached the last class that were often considered failures with no real hope. Along the years quite a few of students dropped out of the program while others were dropped from it because of the lack of abilities shown in any field or because of their personality. The best class was considered the only one really worthy of having a jonin sensei, and with a few exceptions some from the second class as well, the rest would get assigned to various divisions and chunin would aid them in some way or another.

Getting into that class would usually be on merit alone, usually, but bribes and connections helped things along just as well. _Who wouldn't want their children to have a better chance at succeeding_, sadly for that it meant pushing those who actually deserved the spot but didn't have the connections to the second class. Unknown to many was that usually clan members would be placed together in the same class almost automatically and their class would be seen as the best class as well as the first one from the start, the people in the know often waited until the children from clan members attended the academy to send their own as well.

He had also managed to gain accesses to the library the academy had and he did the same thing he had done at the normal library in Konoha, currently both Yukimura and Sayaka's were going through the books to extract any useful information and find a way to use it, which required trial and error and their part.

Sadly the down side of most of the books which handled the more important subjects was that they required direct supervision from someone with practical experience in the matter and for the student to have a good grasp of the basics, which he didn't have. A lot of the basic and practical subjects were taught without the help of textbooks, apparently it was considered more efficient for a teacher to show the students how the exercises, such as chakra molding, were done rather then let them read about it which they may not understand.

Books with theories on the matter existed but again Yukimura and Sayaka still needed to go through them to find the heart of the subject and cut out the irrelevant data. They were attempting to reverse engineer some more exercises that used different forms of magic and other kinds of energy in hopes of adapting them for use with chakra, so far they had made some progress and were tweaking things, the both of them had blown themselves up a few times while attempting the experiments so he wasn't in any rush to try those exercises until they had worked out all the kinks.

The place he really wanted to visit was the shinobi library that he believed had detailed guides for beginners, unfortunately he couldn't get in until he made genin, nor could he stay close enough to the building for Yukimura to use his magic as the place was guarded and someone would come and shew him away. While his thiefs skills were good now and he had taken to robbing a few people for some extra money and he had even managed to enter a few civilian houses and apartments he didn't know what kind the security measures the place had, one small seal that he couldn't see and he would get caught.

Naruto gently lowered his head while pondering about what to do next, he had other projects that he occupy himself with, Sayaka and Yukimura were working on the shinobi books they had gotten. He briefly thought about the academy curriculum, they were taught a core curriculum of reading, writing, mathematics, science and geography, and these lessons were typically framed in a ninja-context, and in fact were all learned in order to facilitate later instruction in tactics and strategies.

The students were asked to learn the Shinobi Rules, which made both Yukimura and Sayaka laugh when they read them. The students were also supposed to receive special lectures from veteran shinobi, and learn how to clear their minds, he hadn't seen any veterans yet and mostly likely wouldn't.

The classes were broken into the basic levels of taijutsu classes that served as the academy's equivalent of physical education. In taijutsu class, they would engage in physical activities to help train their bodies and develop their stamina, sparring was common, or in his case that often meant taking a beating.

For all his faults Naruto could honestly say that Kafu Okuma knew his taijutsu, after so many hours spent training with Yukimura, Sayaka and the large variety of opponents they created for him he could see the mistakes his fellow students made and how Kafu easily corrected them, his observations were always sharp and correct pointing out the existing flaws and closing whatever openings existed. That of course wasn't done for him, _oh no_, for him the stance he was taught was always a bit more open, just a bit more wide, just enough for a punch or a kick to slip through, nothing life threatening just yet. Whenever he made a good block, his dear sensei would instruct his opponent how to get around it, he was told to consider it a learning experience. A shame the man would probably drool is he showed his skills with the K'tara, Echani and Steel Hand martial art, he clenched his fists, one day he would definitely show his dear sensei his actual skills.

He slowly unclenched his fist and breathed to calm himself down, his mind returning to the curriculum, the ninjutsu classes were supposed to provide the bulk of what potential ninjas learned at the academy. Students were supposed to be taught about chakra, how to manipulate it and use hand seals, and ultimately how to use techniques such as the Transformation Technique and the Clone Technique. Katsue was responsible for that part of their education and it had yet to get of the ground, in her defense everybody needed to draw out their chakra first and then get used to it.

They were also shown how to use the basic equipment such as shuriken and kunai, he still wasn't sure why more weapons weren't included in later years, to at least give them a small taste of what it would like be to use a different weapon and then to defend against an opponent with such a weapon while they only a kunai to use.

Genjutsu classes had not gone passed the theoretical part just yet, but they were supposed to focus less on how to create the illusions and more on how they worked. Students were to be taught how to determine if they were trapped in a genjutsu, and then how to release themselves from it.

An amusing tid bit was that girls had to attend kunoichi classes, where they were taught about other cultures and how skills such as flower arranging would help them to blend in during an infiltration mission. The infiltration part was skipped for the boys for some reasons, even though men could handle the flower part as some had a business related to them.

Graduating from the Academy, Yukimura had discovered from the some of the documents the teachers had, usually consisted of taking both a written exam and a practical exam, administered by a chunin instructor, the student had to earn enough marks to pass. Upon graduating, the students received a forehead protector as proof of their achievement; just how unique such a thing was still a mystery to him. _Couldn't such a thing be easily subjected to forgery? Is there some sort of special seal on it? Or does it have sort of unique registration number_.

Later on graduating students were then separated into squads of three genin and assigned to a jonin-sensei to instruct them further, it seemed lax in his opinion and both Sayaka and Yukimura agreed. Still from the paperwork they had discovered that after meeting their jonin sensei the teams would yet again be tested this time by their jonin teacher to assess whether they would be able to handle the demands that would be made of them as ninja. If the students failed they return to the academy for a time for more classes before being allowed to try again, if they failed again they would usually be assigned to a division or another, rarely was someone dropped from the program at that point.

All in all while things were somewhat lax, it had its problems the students that applied themselves would make progress, it was watered down to a degree but not entirely, the standards were lowered from before during the war period curriculum that Yukimura had discovered in the teachers lounge, whether this was because Konoha's arrogance or the peace time still remained to be seen. Personally judging by the teachers attitude he leaned more it being the fault of Konoha believing it could withstand any storm sent its way.

_It looks like during wartime they throw the students into the meat grinder and then revert back to simpler methods, I can understand that during wartime those who couldn't make the cut were dropped quickly while the rest would see battle in one way or another. During peace they took longer to teach everything and to the sort out who had potential and who didn't, it gave more students a chance to graduate. Because of the peace time they also restricted the higher skills so those who ended up failing the program wouldn't be able to cause any problems. _

It was understandable, why would anyone want to have a bunch of civilians who know how to use chakra and know ninja skills that can start committing crimes.

_Yes, my best choice is to fail this year and then attempt again next time, preferably when the clan heirs will be present, _he had heard that a few were close to his age_, only a few months apart age wise and they will prove useful connections for the future_. He just needed to be careful and make sure that he got the grades needed to fail the year and not get kicked out, he doubted the Hokage would ever let him quit being a ninja, and he would rather not have the Hokage force his readmission if he failed the year badly enough, no that would be his last card to play and only used if the teachers made things so worse that he could not repeat the academy year.

He would simply do enough to meet his target and nothing more then that, once he reached the year with the clan heir he could show some more of his skills and take some action if the teachers attempted to flunk him that time, of course he would keep a few of his and his fellow students test papers, as memories of his time at the academy, and if the Hokage should find them and see how harshly they were corrected well it wouldn't be his fault at all.

Naruto realized that he could use pranks as a way to showcase his stealth ability, even if the teachers had been angry for the prank he had done at the academy they had talked about how he had managed to accomplish it as no one had seen him do it. Best of all he could use pranks as a cover in case he got caught while trying to break into a shop or house, _yes, a few every now and then won't hurt._

He thought for a moment if the Hokage would intervene at the academy_, he must have gotten reports from the academy_; the only explanation he could come with was that the Hokage believed the reports from the academy about him. In which case for some reasons he was willing to let the village weapon remain unskilled rather then placed through a harsh training regime.

_The Hokage could send someone to investigate the matter at the academy if he thought there was something suspicious occurring and wanted to observe if the reports were real. If I was that important for the village he could have gotten me a tutor or thrown me to the wolves and be trained by Anbu. He reacted rather badly when I asked for lessons before the start of the academy perhaps he believed I'm an idiot and have little skill that would mean that he had a defective weapon on his hands. He could be trying to treat me fairly and just like any other person in the village, but after the incident with the merchant not sending someone to investigate the academy is criminally negligent. Bah I'll set this matter aside; mostly likely the old fool believes that I'll have a normal childhood and that his beloved villagers won't act in a manner that would endanger that._

Naruto's face took a devilish smile when the plan came together, he would also create the image of victim in the minds of a few people and make a story as to why he quit the academy should the Hokage ask for more details. He had also found the perfect mark to help him with the scheme; it would be his going away present for the rest of the class, taking down one of the so called tough guys.

All the while scoring points with the rest, Yukimura's lesson rang through his head again, _Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim_, he had found out when Katsue's birthday was by overhearing a few teacher talk about it and could use that and include it into his plans, it was an excuse to get the woman some flowers, _for my favorite teacher_. A small act of kindness to make a crack in the wall, _even if she throws them away all I need is for a chip to be made in her defense_.

She would be his second target, he was already acting dumb and his trick of making the people around him smarter than he was had worked, they were to his joy, convinced of this, the teachers were especially convinced of this, they would never in a thousand years believe that he would ever be able to outsmart them. He still needed to be careful and get the others to play with the cards he dealt them, his victims needed to feel that they were in control after all, but not actually his puppets, he would stir up the waters a bit. He would make his first mark angry so he would surely jump at a chance to rat him out, he already knew the chink in that one's vanity through which he could rattle him and play him like a puppet.

The last part of the plan would inadvertably, _work on the hearts and minds of others_, at the end of the scheme he would look like the innocent victim in all of it, the scheme would help soften up Katsue and some of the soon to be former classmates of his by removing an annoying element from their mists, conviently it would also give him a good reasons to withdraw temporarly from the academy becouse of it.

He chuckled sinisterly when he thought about what he had done to the merchant he targeted, those poor fools thought he hadn't heard them back then and that it had all been just and accident and not something deliberate. It was a short time after he had started the academy and he had invited the Hokage over for another meal that he had cooked in order to celebrate him starting the academy. He had of course bought the products from a merchant he had chosen before and that he knew would sell him expired food or food very close to the expiration date, all the while overpricing him, the man considered himself a top dog and that he was more powerful then others.

Flashback

Four men were talking as they looked at the shop of one of Konoha's most successful and influential merchants the man's shop was also one of the biggest in the village. Takenao Toma had temporarily closed his shop and joined the small group of fellow merchants that were discussing the commotion at the shop.

"So does anyone know what's going?" he was still on very thin ice with a lot of his fellow merchants after he had sold good products to the jinjuriki and worst still continued to do so, he was still terrified he could hurt the Hokage and bring his wrath down on himself.

"Just a few bits from here and there" answered Tomiichi Kawaguchi, a baker.

"There's been a lot of activity at that store for a while now, the people looked to have been thrown out, heck even the people working there, exited the place." Answered Ninsei Onishi a fellow merchant that owned a small store as well.

This time it was Tetsui Shinsato who spoke "Looks like Kobo really fucked up big time, rumor has it the merchant guild representative is there and he's out for blood."

Takenao cringed, Kobo Mochizuki was a well connected merchant and someone you didn't want to anger, it was odd considering he supposedly had a good relationship with the merchant guild representative, it was one of the reason people were wary of him. "Isn't he on good terms with the guild representative?"

The last man there, Takanobu Hamasaki spoke up. "Yeah he is but apparently even that can't help you if you piss of the Hokage"

"He did what?" Takenao asked shocked.

Tetsui Shinsato looked at the others mulling things over before speaking again. "You know how I have a nephew?" that got a round of nods. "Well the boy works at the hospital and he told me this morning when he came by that the Hokage arrived at the hospital towards the morning with some terrible stomach problems." The group cringed guessing what would follow. "The man had food poisoning" Takenao took in a deep breath, that was extremely bad, no the word bad couldn't do the situation justice he realized. "The guild representative got brought in by some ninja a while later, still in sleepwear and all that. My nephew doesn't know what they talked about, well more like the Hokage talked and the guild representative listened from what some of the other people that did hear tell him. And" he motioned towards the shop "this is the result, a little while ago, some ninja also went into the store."

None of the men noticed a small blond boy walking behind them.

Takanobu Hamasaki was the first to speak after that "There's no way Kobo would sell something rotten to the freaking Hokage!"

Takenao's eyes bulged and he felt like lighting had struck him when he realized what actually occurred. "No, not to him no, but if it was someone else, someone with whom the Hokage ate with and Kobo didn't know that the person was close to the Hokage!" He smashed his fist into his one palm. "I told you guys" he stopped for a moment and cringed when he realized what he almost blurted out loud, he cleared his throat for a moment before continuing " I told you guys that he was close to the Hokage and that they had dinner together! This just proves it!" He felt excited, finally the other merchants couldn't call him a liar anymore, he had proof here, it had actually happened to someone. Takenao's hear skipped several beats, realization hit him quickly. _That could have been me instead, oh thank Kami that the kid was stupid enough to mention it before or I would have been in deep shit now instead of Kobo._

The other men present all gave him a round of nods. "That could well be, it would make sense, look's like were going to have be more careful around the...boy."

Another round of nods followed, the men were about to start talking again when a voice from behind the group all but had them jumping out of their shoes, they quickly turned around, one person from the group already knew who it was.

"Heya mister." Naruto waved at Takenoa. "I went to the store and saw that it was closed, but then I saw you here, are you going to open the store today?"

"Yeah" Takenao began in a shaky voice, "sure I am I was just talking with some friends of mine"

Naruto looked at the other with a goofy smile on his face "I don't really know how to greet more then one mister, so" he rubbed the back of his head "sorry that I can't greet all you group of misters"

The group quickly exchanged a few glances, before Takanobu Hamasaki spoke up "Don't worry about it kid, it's no problem, you'll learn in time"

"I wanted to ask if you knew anything about that store" he pointed towards Kobo's store.

Naruto nodded. "Oh yeah I know it! I bought some stuff from there for the dinner I made for me and old man Hokage" After the last part was uttered one could almost hear how the people's muscles tightened and their hearts skipped a beat. Naruto looked towards Takenao "It was more expensive then the stuff you have and wasn't as tasty as yours either, and the man there was mean to me, but he had more stuff, it made me sick though" Naruto rubbed his stomach. "I think it made the old man sick as well, someone from the Hokage came by later and took what was left of the food I bought from there, he probably wanted to get rid of it cuz it was bad."

Takenao nodded. "Probably, how about we go to my store so you can get your shopping done, sound good?"

"Yeah, that sounds great mister, let's go!"

Flashback end.

_The stomach problems and diareah was well worth it, my food problems all but disseapeared after that, _Naruto thought about the merchant_, the poor man has certanly fallen on hard times_. He chuckled again remembering Yukimura's words, _strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter_. _And the sheep certanly scattered, I'm in a much better position then before with the merchants, one of the so called untouchable, big and well connected men was taken down before their eyes, that has put fear into their hearts._

Naruto had managed to change a few of the Hokage's seals around the village, adding a bit of Yukimura's magic to give him a heads up for when the Hokage used them, in theory it should also add a foggy effect before revealing him, thus giving him a few precious seconds to act beforehand. He wandered around Konoha while not in the academy and changed a few of them, not all of course, just one or two in clusters of them, to his secret joy he had discovered quite a few parks and forested areas in Konoha that didn't have the seals and were safe for him.

To his joy with the weather finally warming up he managed to dig up some earth and create a small garden in his room, he had managed to procure the seeds beforehand and he only ended up buying the pots he needed. Creating a small garden on the roof was the next step but he needed to be careful in case someone destroyed it when it was discovered that it was his, there weren't any rules, that he was aware of regarding creating a small garden on the roof of the building. He had managed to start a few garden patches in some of the forested areas of Konoha, as much as he wanted to make it all in one place, he couldn't take the risk of someone finding it and losing everything in one swoop, it was best to divide things for now, Naruto couldn't wait for the summer to make syrup from the roses he had planted.

_Yes I have other things to occupy myself with; I still need to find a place for the opening to the god realm_. It was a very dangerous thing to create such an opening as other people could stumble open and it would open a whole different can of worms if that occurred but both Yukimura and Sayaka wanted him to enter the good realm with his psychical body to better continue his training. _Now all I need to do is work out the kinks in the new plan_.

* * *

><p>Naruto smiled as he lay on his bed drinking tea and thinking about his recent success, his scheme had worked perfectly, he had framed his classes self titled cool guy and great ninja, a boy named Minoru for shoplifting, he doubted anyone would really miss the boy, some would be grateful for his removal from the program.<p>

First Naruto had bragged about his own shoplifting skills to a group of students that he wanted to befriend, he explained that he used a fake school book to do the deed, the fact that Minoru was nearby and heard everything was something he was counting on, the boy went to the teachers with all kinds of lies about what Naruto done and got recognition for it while he got detention, there wasn't even a small chance for him not to go immediately to the teachers or maybe even take it to the authorities.

Of course after that, predictably, Minoru showed up to watch Naruto get caught stealing a few items only for the store employees to find that he had only a regular book and nothing stolen on his person. Naruto claimed that Minoru was the real thief, and when Minoru was grabbed, he dropped his book and the items fell out. Naturally he had made the switch between the books a while back before making the move, and had stolen items from shops that Minoru had recently visited and planted a few stolen items in the boy's house as well.

The shocked faces of his teachers were now some of his new favorite memories, Katsue's reaction was even worse, the flowers he had given her and telling the woman how she was his favorite teacher had indeed made a dent in her armor. He told the authorities that he desperately wanted to make friends and that he heard how Minoru bragged about doing something similar and hoped that he could get friends that way but in the end he couldn't bring himself to steal anything, hearing that had made Katsue from what he could see visibly cringe. Dear old Minoru got kicked out of the academy and was in a lot of trouble for the stolen items.

He used the excuse that he couldn't make friends in the academy no matter what he tried and how everybody were convinced he would actually steal something and accused him of it as an excuse to stop going to the academy. He had put on a small show of appearing downtrodden while in public to show just how sad he was about the whole thing, that was especially true the few times he had seen his old teachers at the market. An unexpected bonus was that even the Hokage believed him and had told him to try harder next time and that he was sure things would go better for him. The Hokage had taken him to Ichiraku's a few times to help cheer him up; he drank a bit more of his tea and smiled. _Everything went better then I planed._

A knock at the door interrupted his musings, it was late and he wasn't sure who it could be, beside the Hokage and very rarely the landlord no one visited him, he placed the tea cup on the table slowly making his way to the door and placing a knife near it, just in case he needed it. Naruto drew in a breath before he opened the door and his eyes widened at who he was there. His old teacher Katsue Miwa stood there in front of his apartment door, she looked drunk, her cloths were a mess, her hair was unkempt, her eyes were red like she had been crying and she had bangs under them. Naruto tensed preparing for the worst, before the woman burst into tears and got down on her knees and hugged him tightly.

"I'm so glad you're alive." she managed to get out between sobs. "I thought I had gotten you killed as well!"

Katsue stopped for a moment and it looked like she was running out of breath. "Please you have to forgive me; I didn't want to drive you to suicide."

The woman hugged him tighter while crying; Naruto stood frozen and didn't move a muscle. _What the hell is going on? What is she talking about, this...I... never planned for something like this_. He breathed in and calmed down before a demonic smile formed on his face and using his arms as little as he could wrapped them around the woman and nuzzled his head against her neck. "It's alright sensei I forgive you." He told her in a sweet and innocent tone of voice.

"You do?" The woman asked breaking the hug.

Now that they were close that Naruto felt like he had gotten hit in the face from the woman's breath, _how much has she been drinking?_ "Yep, I'm sure you didn't mean it."

The woman burst into tears again "Oh thank you Gengyo!" She quickly placed a hand over her mouth and she looked like she would throw up.

"The bathroom's that way." He motioned towards the bathroom and Katsue quickly ran towards it wobbling slightly. Naruto let out a breath he had been holding in, he looked outside the hallway before he closed the door and took the knife from the doorway. _Tsk I should have adapted faster to the change, oh well this is good enough; I know I can work this into my plans_. He heard retching noises from his bathroom. _Well time to go and play the good guy card._

When Naruto reached the bathroom he saw Katsue down on her knees and vomiting above the toilet, he slowly made his up to her and held up her hair so she wouldn't vomit on it more then she already had. What did surprise him were the bandages on her wrists that were red in some places. _Did I drive her to suicide? _He stayed there holding her hair up and padding her on the back from time to time until she finished.

"Sensei can I check your bandages?" He asked holding one of her hands after the woman was done vomiting and was sprawled out on the bathroom flour.

Katsue looked at him with squinted eyes. "Morikawa-san is that you?"

_Just great_. He got the first aid kit and managed to look over her wounds, they were self inflicted he realized.

"I …thought I hurt someone else like did you Morikawa" Katsue rubbed her eyes, "I" she swallowed her own spit. "I didn't want to live with myself anymore." Katsue began crying again.

_What in Kyuubi's name happened to her before all of this? It look's like her past experience together with my actions she was somehow driven her to suicide. _

"That's alright, everything is fine, and I'm ok". He quickly checked her bandages and did what he could to make sure her life wasn't in any danger, he was grateful that Yukimura and Sayaka had taught him about how to apply first aid, Katsue looked to have done a good job of treating her wounds as well_. I can't let her sleep here like this, ugh, I guess she can sleep in my bed this time, but not dressed like she is now. _"Come sensei you need to get some sleep, take off your shoes and flak jacket."

The woman nodded and complied numbly, he took her by the hand and brought her to his bed, he planed on sleeping on the flour, sadly the woman had other plans as she caught him in a tight embrace and didn't let go of him.

"Don't leave you might hurt yourself!" She tightened her grip on him.

_Well crap_. "Its ok sensei I won't hurt myself I just want to shut the lights off."

"No!" The woman all but shouted. "You'll hurt yourself just like he did!"

_Damn it, well let's play this out to the end then maybe I can find out what happened_. He snuggled closer to her, "It's alright sensei I won't go anywhere then."

* * *

><p>Naruto lay awake looking up at the ceiling, Katsue still had him in an iron grip, the light was still on in his room and sadly he hadn't been able to open a window and the room smelled of vomit and alcohol from the Katsue. He guessed that it was around two or three, definitely past midnight, it had taken a while for Katsue to calm and down and with some small encouragement from him told her story, he had managed to put all the piece together after the woman fell asleep, <em>and it is quite the story all right<em>.

Katsue Miwa had worked with a friend of hers, Mai Kujaku, and seduced an academy teacher, Gengyo Morikawa; they had worked rather hard on the matter and then claimed that he had tried to rape them. Both women had a reason to target the man, an interesting tid bit was that Katsue and Mia were lovers and the relationship continued for a time, the way she described it Naruto guessed that Mia was the one that seduced Katsue for the plan. Hearing that Mai also slept with one of one the men who would have some say over Gengyo's career, did not help make their romance any better, apparently the man would help to block Gengyo's career advancement thanks to his position and the influence he had.

The reasons for the two women varied, in Mai's case it was revenge as a very good friend of hers that had died on a mission because Gengyo had abandoned her. With Katsue it was because she was terrified of returning to field work, she had been involved in a string of missions that gone wrong and ended up with a lot of bodies pilling up, her last mission had gone horrifyingly wrong and she had been scarred by it.

Unfortunately her track record was still good, she was far too young to retire, and the other posts that she could fill out in the village were already occupied, the woman was terrified of ending up in Konoha's mental health institute, so when Mai came up with the plan it was like a god had smiled down on her. After the teacher was removed she would take his place, the excuse was that she would do a better job then him and fix whatever damage he may have done to the young generation.

Their plan had gone well, the charges brought up against the man had certainly held up, why a Yamanaka mind reader hadn't been brought to solve the matter was beyond him though, Gengyo had been suspended from active duty and was seen to be depressed and downtrodden when in public, something that he himself had done as well after leaving the academy, the charges of rape together with his abandonment of a comrade before and a visit to a mental health specialist seemed to had finally ended his career and any friendships the man still had.

The big victory that Mai claimed was when Gengyo committed suicide, the man had hanged himself and the trial ended there, apparently that was seen as his admission of guilt, why else would he have committed suicide if not because of the guilt he felt. In either case Mai got what she wanted with Gengyo dead and his reputation destroyed, Katsue did as well with the teaching job ending up in her lap.

Things were looking up for the two women, the downside was that Katsue had been to one to find Gengyo's body and took his private journal, Katsue had went to visit the man in prison after the man had asked her to visit him, Naruto believed that Katsue was feeling guilty about the whole thing and decided to visit the man because of that. Katsue admitted that she had wanted to the have man ruined and thrown in jail but never considered that he would commit suicide and regretted it.

What Katsue read in the journal however slowly pushed her towards the edge, while Gengyo admitted to abandoning Mai's friend and getting her killed, he started drinking because of that and fell into a depression from which he was barely able to recover, the man had been close to committing suicide before but with therapy he had managed to recover. He had resolved to become a teacher and help teach the next generation to ensure that none of them would be cowards like he considered himself.

After finding that out together with her oh so steamy relationship with Mai becoming more casual, had driven Katsue into a depression, and she had soldiered on only to keep up appearances. Mai's death a year ago ensured that no one would ever find out about their plan and that she was in the clear, but that did little to help her recover. When he started attending the academy Katsue started to sabotage him because the other teachers were for it, she had not lost anyone important in the Kyuubi attack but was still wary of him. Rather then go against the tide of hatred against him she just went along with it, doing her part in his educational nightmare.

The big change was that he kept his mask on which the teacher actually believed to be true and had to plow through her feelings, apparently keeping his mask on had slowly chipped away at her, the flowers on her birthday and his subsequent innocence in his ploy had a bigger impact on the woman then he had calculated.

When Katsue saw him acting in a similar fashion to Gengyo before his disappearance and subsequent suicide she had thought that it was happening to him as well and that she driven someone else to suicide. Her teaming up with Kafu reminded her of her planning with Mai, thinking that Naruto was innocent but deciding to still go against him to help herself also reminded her of time when she had worked with Mai.

Adding some heavy drinking and Katsue had slashed her arms a few times, nothing to serious and she had managed to patch herself up nicely, before deciding to seek him and see if he really did commit suicide and the rest was history.

_Well I have to admit I never thought my plan would turn out like this, accidentally driving her to suicide and her own dark past was something I never factored into my plans. Still I can use this new development to further my own plans, if I play my own cards right and play on her guilt I should be able to get a good education out of her, the tricky part will be to get her to keep her mouth shut about it, difficult but not impossible. I just hope I can get a few good hours of sleep and wake up tomorrow before her. Who would have thought this day would end like this_?

* * *

><p>When Katsue managed to wake up her head felt like someone had hit her over it with a shovel several times, she opened her eyes and rather quickly realized that she wasn't in her apartment. <em>Where am I?<em> However after seeing a small bundle of blond near her chest she calmed down as memories of the previous night came rushing back, _oh thank Kami he's alright_, she hugged him a bit. _I remember starting to make my way towards him after the finishing another bottle of sake. Did I say anything I shouldn't have? _A small voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Sensei are you awake?"

"Naruto-kun, you're awake as well" She let him out her embrace.

Naruto straiten up. "Yes I got up a little while ago."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Why didn't you get up then?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "I tried but you were holding me really tight sensei."

She blushed slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry about that."

Naruto shook his head and lowered it. "It's alright; no one's ever done that for me before."

Katsue could feel the sadness in his voice. _Damn, at least I had my parents before they died_. She tried to compose herself. "Naruto-kun do you remember what I said last night?" _Kami please don't let it be something bad._

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Just that you were sorry about something or another, you hugged me really tight and didn't want to let go of me."

She let out a relieved breath. _Oh thank Kami for small miracles. _"Um well I may have been a bit inebriated last night."

Naruto tilted his head to a side looking at Katsue. "What's inebriated mean?"

Katsue laughed nervously and coughed nervously in one hand. "I may have had a few drinks that affected me a little."

Naruto gave her a deadpan expression. "Sensei you vomited in my bathroom for a while last night, I think you had more then just a few drinks."

She laughed a bit at that raising an arm to cover her mouth_. Oh the little…_

Naruto face suddenly took on a concerned look. "Sensei what's wrong with your arms?"

"What?" she asked startled looking at her arms.

Naruto sent the woman a worried look. "I was really worried last night you were red at your arms and used some of the stuff I had in the bathroom on them."

"I…" _damn it _"I hurt myself by accident before coming here last nigh Naruto"

Naruto sent the woman a concerned look. "Oh ok I was worried when I saw you like that."

Katsue felt like crying seeing Naruto's concerned look. _Damn even after the things I did he still care about me_. "It's alright I'm fine, I'll check on them right now ok?"

Naruto nodded. "Ok"

Katsue went to the bathroom and quickly checked over her wounds. _Well even drunk it looks like I managed to patch myself up rather well. Kami I was close to jumping of the edge last night, by the look of things I was getting ready to jump_. She took a deep breath before stepping out of the bathroom. She found Naruto was at the table in the room and eating, a small kettle with water was boiling on an electric stove Katsue took a seat on the bed again.

"I have food if you want sensei." Naruto motioned to the table.

Katsue waved a hand at him to dismiss the notion "It's alright I don't want any right now" She wasn't sure how to approach the subject of why she had traveled to his place.

"Oh, um sensei why did you come here last night? Was it because of the academy?"

_Yes, bingo_. "Actually yes Naruto, it's about that I realized I made a mistake when teaching you during the academy and I wanted to fix that."

Naruto gave her a confused look. "Um, I already quit the academy sensei."

"You what?!" she asked startled, she knew he wasn't attending anymore, but she didn't know he had quit just yet.

Naruto nodded and furrowed his eyebrows. "Yeah, almost all the people there are mean."

Katsue quickly consider the options she had given the situation. "Oh, well maybe if we both try hard you could manage to pass the year; I'll help in whatever way I can." _I know I can get his grades higher with the tests and switching the seating arrangements back around._

Naruto shook his head. "I'd still be with all the mean people, old man Hokage said I that can try again next time."

She felt a tinge of relief at his words. "Oh he did?" _It make's sense the Hokage would want to keep him at the academy to continue his education, why we hasn't taken a better look at the place is still up for debate. I know a few people thought that he didn't care much for the boy either and was giving his own taciturn approval for the treatment._

"Do you still want to teach me?"

Katsue could hear the nervousness in his voice "I…" _I will get into the trouble with the other staff members at the very least,_ she looked at Naruto's face_, he looks so innocent_, she thought about things for a moment chewing her lower lip, _maybe I can find some repentance with this_. "Yes I still want to teach you." Katsue noticed how Naruto's seem to brighten after her words.

"That would be awesome sensei with your help I'll be a kick as shinobi in no time!"

_Well he certainly has enthusiasm, how did I not see this before? No I did see it but I chose to ignore it. _

"Ano can I ask you to promise me something sensei?"

She furrowed her eyebrows "What is it Naruto?"

"Can we keep our training a secret?"

"Why would you want such a thing Naruto?" Katsue had to admit that she was surprised at his statement, she didn't expect that.

"Because I want to surprise the Hokage with my skills later on, and I remember the mister who helped teach me how to read and write Goda I think it was, said that shinobi don't want always the glory and prefer to get the job done and knowing its success was enough for them." Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "I think that's what he said."

Katsue blinked considering his words. _Keeping it a secret would definitely keep things stable at work_. "That's a surprisingly mature thing Naruto and very true."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah I wrote it down here somewhere!" He motioned around the room.

Katsue almost hit flour face first when she heard his reply. _Well at least he's trying_. _Yes, this could definitely work_. "Very well Naruto I promise to keep our training a secret."

"That's great sensei." Naruto jumped from his chair and hugged her. "Old man Hokage said it was really important to keep your promises no matter what."

Katsue smiled as she hugged Naruto. "Don't worry I will defiantly keep my promise." _Maybe there's some salvation for me after all. _

She didn't see the glint in Naruto's eyes or the smile that crept on his face.

* * *

><p>Over the following weeks Katsue and Naruto established a schedule to meet up for her to properly teach him, the schedule revolved around the little free time that she had at her disposal. A few times the two meet at her apartment, and once at Naruto's apartment, most of their meetings however occurred in the forested areas in Konoha.<p>

Katsue had started with the basics that were supposed to have been taught at the academy, the same she and her fellow teacher had sabotaged to make sure he didn't understand them properly. What surprised her was just how skilled Naruto turned out to be, she realized that he was a kinesthetic learner, her ex student need to carry out a physical activity rather then listen to a lecture or watching a demonstration to properly learn something. Katsue cursed herself when she remembered reading about the different learning styles, she had read about the topic specifically to be a good teacher.

The progress Naruto made bewildered her, she seemed to soak in everything like a sponge, after cutting out some of the more irrelevant parts Naruto had managed to be up to date with the rest of class and she would soon need to go into the more advanced subjects. Because she wanted him to work more on chakra molding Katsue had decided to start teaching Naruto some of her other skills such as forgery, worth evaluation, ninja wire and basic first aid. This way Naruto would have something else to work on while still doing the chakra molding exercises, while he still did the exercises she realized that he needed something else to do during the day when he took breaks from chakra molding.

One thing that had made her both proud and saddened her was after seeing just how hard Naruto worked, it was after an exercise for his forgery skill that she had shown him, she asked him to try and imitate the hand writing she had given him on a piece a paper. Naruto had ended up doing three times the amount of work needed, even after he succeeded he kept going, thinking that it wasn't done right just yet. She realized then that Naruto was a hard worker but that sadly she and the academy teachers had done a great deal of damage to his self esteem, that was seen in his belief that she couldn't get things done right the first time or easily, it was something that she started to work on in hoped of fixing.

Taijutsu had proven another surprise for her, she remembered the day she got thrown down on her ass by Naruto with a simple sweeping hand move and leg turn, Naruto admitted that he started working on his own style after having faced so many opponents that were bigger then him and not having any luck with the academy style. She cringed when she heard that, she knew that Kafu had made sure to punish Naruto during sparring as much as possible, the man may have indivertibly helped to create a new taijutsu style.

From what she saw it had potential, it focused more on using the motion and kinetic energy of the attacker and redirecting the force of the attack rather than opposing it head-on, it required very little physical strength as the practitioner guided the attacker's momentum using entering and turning movements. Considering how his opponents were bigger then him and he had very little muscle on him and wouldn't have for many years the style was ideal for him, creating something like it because of necessity showed her just how great his potential was. She realized that what she and the other teacher attempted to do was criminal, she knew that Kafu would be willing to sell his soul to help someone developed a new martial arts style with such potential, sadly she also knew that he wouldn't help Naruto and going to him would break the trust Naruto had placed in her.

At the end of the day Katsue was extremely pleased with Naruto's progress he was a hard worker and just needed the right guidance with it he was revealed to be a very talented child, Katsue couldn't help but smile she enjoyed the time she spent with Naruto he was bundle of sunshine that helped to brighten up her day, she wanted to make sure that he would be better prepared for when the day came for him to go on filed missions.

Her own career had been a bloody one, the missions she had been on had plenty of bodies stacked up during them, exterminating bandit groups that were causing problems in some regions, only to find that the group they were after had allied with another group and had grown in size, but still fit the mission description meant more people for her to kill. Most of her missions ended up with more people that needed to die, or coming across places were a lot of people died.

The last mission she had gone on before enacting Mai's plan still gave her nightmares, it had her and her team chasing down a small group of wanted criminals that led her and her team to a slave trafficking ring, her team had gotten trapped inside the building and the group ended up having to plow through the small army of thugs there. A quick move on her part of sending a kunai with an explosive tag in the middle of a group of enemies had her applauded by the rest of the team but she had been horrified at the results. She had been scared then and did what she had to survive, her movements had been a blur but some things remained, the feeling of shoving her kunais in the thugs there, the sound a thug made when she had used her ninja wire to strangle him and the man's eyes had popped out.

At the end of the mission arms and legs littered the ground in the hideout with mangled bodies every, her handy work at the start with the kunai and explosive tag had killed four people. She had been battered and bruised worst then ever before in her life, she had a concussion, plenty of cuts, three broken ribs, a lose tooth and a multitude of fractured bones.

Her final tally had been around twenty people, she had been horrified by it all, and the others praised her for the slaughter she unleashed, whispers were of her making jonin, she knew what that meant though, just more killing and more difficult missions.

No she didn't want a promotion that would have been far worse, Mai coming along had been a god send, she had helped her forget the horrors the world had spat out, the chance to land of more normal position inside the village safe from the killing had been to appealing to her. She eventually started liking the idea of becoming a teacher to help the next generation be more prepared for what awaited them. With Gengyo's death and finding out the truth from his journal coupled with the end of her relationship with Mai, had sent her into a small fit of depression were she didn't care anymore of teaching she was content to be safe.

Now things had changed, she had regained some of her former spark and put a lot more effort in her teaching she would help the others prepare for what awaited them outside the village walls and hoped their luck would be far greater then hers but if not they would have the skills to see them through the day. She knew Naruto would eventually have to confront the darkness of the world, with his status he could eventually land in the thick of things, she didn't know why the Hokage didn't want to train the boy early, she figured that he probably wanted him to have a somewhat normal childhood and later assign a good jounin that he had picked out to properly train the boy.

Katsue smiled again she had a surprise for Naruto, it was something that she had begun to work on for while and it would come to fruition soon enough. _With enough time and the right guidance Kafu may just have to eat his underwear._

* * *

><p>Naruto was smiling and singing a tune as he left the forested area that had been chosen as the opening for the god realm, it had taken a lot of searching for the right place, but now he had finally succeeded, with both Yukimura and Sayaka agreeing that the place he had found was ideal. It was farther away from the beaten track and it looked like no one had wandered through it for many years, in Yukimura had poured his magic through the place and given the initial agrement.<p>

His time since leaving the academy had been bliss, he had taken to cooking and eating some new foods from other worlds that Yukimura had showed him how to cook or storing the ingredients to make them. His secret training with his favorite teacher was going better then expected, with her providing the basics that he needed to properly learn the ninja arts of his world. Katsue wasn't aware that he was using her and her training to show moments of his so called brilliance and give her the impression that he just needed the right guidance to be able to shine.

It had been tricky avoiding the Hokage's eyes but not impossible, one trick was that he would leave a T-shirt with the Hokage's seal along with other folded cloths near the bathroom and leave the shower running when he left the apartment to give the impression that he was in the bathroom. He had done the same thing before when the Hokage had been watching him to properly set things up; luckily the Hokage had stopped sending Anbu to watch him long ago and hadn't placed any seals in his bathroom. Avoiding the seals around the village along with the public eye had been tricky at first but eventually he got the hang of it, the sneaking around certainly helped out with his stealth skill.

Things were going well for him, with the basics of the shinobi arts learned from Katsue, Yukimura and Sayaka were having an easier time understanding the more advanced parts, apparently they had still been a long distance from finding the correct way, they had mentioned that the way taught to him was number one hundred seventy seven on their list of potential ways.

With the basics now in their grasp they had also been making head way in reverse engineering

magic spells and using chakra instead, it now involved a lot less blown up avatars. Their experiments with chakra seals, using the small bits of knowledge from the books and other seals of magical nature brought the number of exploded avatars back up though.

His other studies continued unimpeded, with the free time he had and without the Hokage's supervision he had managed to work on his own taijutsu styles while in the real world as well, his sword styles had been another matter as he still didn't have a practice sword, something that he hoped to fix soon enough.

The only thing that he wasn't happy with was the fact that he still didn't have any friends, well he had the people at Ichiraku's but he still suspected them as working for the Hokage, and he wanted someone he could be himself around. Katsue was a teacher and not a friend, but even the small interactions with her were something that he ended up cherishing.

As he was making his way back to the apartment he entered the market place, he froze when he saw someone he had barely been able to recognize, in the real world not even a year had passed since he had last seen her, however in the god realm time passed at far different rates. Even with the passage of time he could still recognize her, the girl was sitting on box near a shop with some other children near her, she was wearing a ragged pair of dark red pants and shirt, her hazel eyes were just as he remembered along with her twin hair buns. _She must have worked there today with the others, by the looks of it she ended up in orphanage as well_. _Damn I'm not sure how to approach her_.

The girl as if feeling his gaze him meet it with her own and he ended up waving at her awkwardly, she to his joy waved back as well. He just stared at her unsure of what to do, the girl however took the initiative as she got of her box and came over to him leaving the others behind, he noticed how with the sunset they were bathed in shadows.

The girl smiled. "Hey little whiskered blond long time no see."

Naruto cracked a smile as well. "Hey panda-chan!"

The girl growled and clenched her knuckles. "I really don't like that nickname."

Naruto waved his hand in front of her. "I'm kidding Ten-chan!"

They both smiled and stood quietly after that unsure of what to say.

"So, you ended up at the orphanage in the end huh."

"Yeah, things happened and…" she trailed off not finishing the sentence.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah"

"I searched for you there after I arrived there, but couldn't find you." She stopped for a moment before continuing. "Um congratulations on getting adopted."

"Adopted?" he asked surprised. "I never got adopted."

The girl looked surprised at him. "What but you weren't there and no one knew were you where I figured you got adopted when the caretakers were changed."

_Yeah changed, the Hokage either ran them out of the village or killed them._ "Um I had an accident and got hurt while there so the Hokage gave me my own place."

"Really, that seems odd?"

He could tell that she was suspicious. "Yeah, I know right? Hey, do you want to visit and check the place out?"

"I don't know" she looked back towards the shop "I was helping out at that store and…"

"I know how to cook and I can make dinner"

Tenten hit her lip. "I usually have to work to get paid"

"How much are you going to get paid for the work?"

"Well I…"

Naruto searched in one of his pockets and retrieved a sum of money.

Tenten's eye widened. "That's a lot more then I usually make."

A small plan was forming in Naruto's head. "Tell you what I'll pay you to come over and help me out with some things you'll still be able to say that you worked for the money, then when you're done you can stay over for dinner, how does that sound?"

"I…" she hesitated for a moment "alright"

"Great!" Naruto grabbed her hand "Come on this way"

* * *

><p>At the end of the day Naruto had to admit that he had found Tenten's awed expression of his apartment amusing, the two of them had moved a few sacks of earth that he needed for his future garden to the rooftop. After that while he made dinner Tenten took a shower and he gave her a change of cloths, she had been grateful as the luxury of a shower wasn't present at the orphanage.<p>

Between the work she had done, the hot food, the tea that Naruto served her and talking until late into the night, Tenten had gotten very tired and it didn't take much effort on Naruto's part to convince her to sleep at his apartment that night. After Tenten had fallen asleep Naruto got into bed as well, he quickly hugged her, placing one of his arms on top of her head and then started to call on Yukimura's magic as hard as he could. No matter what he wasn't going to lose his friend now that he had found her again.

* * *

><p>The sound of someone clearing his throat awoke Naruto from his slumber, when he opened his eyes he found himself back on his bed in his room in the god realm with both Yukimura and Sayaka at the foot of his bed looking none too pleased, both had their arms crossed and wore serious expressions.<p>

"Naruto can you please answer me you started calling on my magic like there was no tomorrow and why there's a little girl in the other room? Especially since it wasn't time for you to return here?"

Naruto didn't say anything he just looked at the window.

Sayaka looked at him with narrowed eyes. "We're listening Naruto-kun."

"I…" the words died in his throat.

"You what?" Yukimura asked his voice louder this time.

Naruto let out a tired breath. "I wanted the loneliness to end."

Both Yukimura and Sayaka stopped at that.

"I have you two at the end of the week and Katsue during it but I wanted a friend, I failed to make any friends at the academy and I failed to make any outside of it. I just wanted to make a friend so I made a choice. From what I can remember of my time at the orphanage only she, Tai and his little sister treated me normally, they were the only one's I could call friends, and even then I realize now that I was closer to her then Tai and his sister. I just didn't want to loose her again now that I've found her. You both mentioned how I would need friends and allies for the future and how I could bring someone I trusted here as well one day, well then she's my choice!"

"And are you sticking with that choice?" Yukimura asked as darkness spread from behind him.

"Yes!" he answered without hesitation.

"And you are willing to pay the consequences for it?" The darkness now looked to oppress the room.

"Consequences?" he asked gulping.

"You didn't think there wouldn't be any for calling so hard on my magic?" Yukimura's voice seemed to thunder through out the room.

Naruto thought about it for a moment before he shook his head. "Yes I'll accept whatever they are and face them head on!"

"Well then" Yukimura's body looked to grow until Naruto felt like he was staring at a mountain "alright as long as you understand that!" and like that everything returned to normal.

"WHAT?!"

Sayaka chuckled "Yes, it's alright Naruto-kun, we did say that you could bring someone you trusted here, and we we're worried about you not making any friends as well. Making such a choice isn't as unexpected as you may think."

"Were you testing me?"

Yukimura waved a hand at him. "Nah I was just busting your balls a bit."

"You were what?"

Sayaka gently elbowed Yukimura in the ribs. "I mean yes I was testing your resolve, likewise there are some consequences for coming here early, you won't be able to come here at the end of this week."

Naruto let out a breath "It's alright if she accepts to join us it will be worth."

"That's a big if Naruto."

"Yes." He nodded his head.

Sayaka made her way to him and ruffled his hair. "Don't worry Naruto-kun we will do our best to show her how great we are"

He smiled and nodded. "How long will I able to stay this time?"

Yukimura rubbed his chin. "Almost a month, she will be able to stay two months, but we will push it a bit. If she accepts then we would be able to match her time to yours."

"Great!"

"Have you thought about where she will live Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked at the two confused. "I was thinking about having her live with me."

Neither Sayaka or Yukimura said anything.

"The apartment is big enough, and I don't think she can get enough money to rent an apartment by herself."

"An interesting idea Naruto-kun, but have you considered what the Hokage will say?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "No, why should he say anything?" he could tell that there was something more to the subject.

Both Yukimura and Sayaka shared a meaningful look between themselves.

He narrowed his eyes looking at the two. "What aren't you telling me?"

"We will discus the situation later, Tenten will wake up soon and seeing you and Sayaka will be imperative."

"Alright then."

* * *

><p>In a white ethereal plane Yukimura stood cycling through different large floating panels in front of him, Sayaka appeared not far from his position.<p>

"Well what have you discovered?"

"A few interesting details." Yukimura moved one of his hands and grabbed a panel from in front of him shrinking it down and handing it to Sayaka.

"Her body won't need as much aid as Naruto-kuns."

"True."

Sayaka moved a finger across the panel "A shame that she doesn't have any shinobi relatives, her chakra reserves would have been larger" she paused for a moment "it will be a much more difficult journey for her compared to Naruto."

Yukimura let a small bit of mischief enter his voice. "Oh is someone intimidated?"

Sayaka waved her hand in an overly dramatic manner. "Perish the thought; I look forward to making her a legend" Sayaka looked away from the panel in her hands "what of her memories?"

Yukimura stopped for a moment. "Her mother abandoned her in Konoha not long ago, and she has problems because of it. Her father died a year ago, I believe her mother left her here in hope of her having a better life though I doubt that she will see it that way. She lived on the streets for a time until getting caught and sent to the orphanage."

"Ah, I see, then you will handle the initial meeting with her, she may be distrustful towards a mother figure."

"Yes, one of my avatars is there already, I'll set a few contingencies in case she rejects our offer and wants to talk to someone else about it."

"Nothing to serious I hope." She asked with a slight edge to her voice.

"No, I just did something to help lower her guard."

"You what?" Sayaka hissed. "Do you remember free will?"

"I do, don't worry about it, her experiences have made her more distrustful, all this will do is to help her keep an open mind, I won't force things."

"See that you don't."

"This seems rather hypocritical of you considering what we have planed for the landlord of his building and some of the other people."

A look of disgust crossed over her face. "There is a difference between her and a piece of trash who can't contribute to the world except as fertilizer."

Yukimura shook his head. "Whatever you say."

Sayaka looked intensely at Yukimura noticing how he kept his gaze locked on the panels in front of him. "Have you found something else? You seemed rather entranced."

Yukimura nodded. "Yes and it's something rather grave, it's something that I missed the first time around with Naruto, and only spotted now because I wanted to make a comparison between their bodies. I doubt any human in this world could spot the differences the first time around, or even the second or third time." Yukimura made a grab motion and took another panel then shrunk to a smaller size before handed in it to Sayaka whose eye widened after looking at data on it.

"This is most disturbing; it just adds more to an existing mystery. I presume you already have some theories about it. "

"Just theories for the time, and don't act like you don't have any ideas about it either."

"Indeed" She dismissed the panel "well it looks like Kushina's heritage did more then give him a good starting advantage in life, it managed to stabilize him at a genetic level."

"Yes" Yukimura looked back towards the floating panels "Who would have thought that the Yondaime Hokage wasn't fully human?"

* * *

><p>Review away<p>

Constructive criticism or pointing out possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.

Check out the poll on my page and the forum where the other polls are.

Chapter 8, wow I got 13026 words done in two days, I had hoped to finish the chapter on 20 04 2014 but it grew too big to finish then. Chapter completion date 21 04 2014, with a total of 14879 words, without the AN or the stuff at the intro, this is officially the largest chapter with Dream's End following it with 14455 words (AN included). Originally it was intended to be chapter 4 but the story grew beyond that rather quickly.

Can anyone guess what Katsue's surprise is?

That ending huh, does anyone have an idea about what the truth is regarding Minato? I can tell you that I don't think anyone has done it in fanfiction before, well at least I haven't read it so maybe it's out there, anyone who thinks they know send me a message with your answer.

- Parts of the academy are similar to Destiny is a hazy thing, though I tried to rework it and make it my own, however it is still similar to it. Likewise at first it didn't have so much crap from the academy, a few bits of him doing other things were sprinkled in between before it got cut.

- Yep the academy buildings looked cobbled together

- Did the students learn about different weapons they could encounter? How about a small taste of it?

- Ended up skipping the part were Naruto enacts his scheme, it had dialogue and stuff but it ended up getting cut as I wasn't satisfied with it. I had Naruto buying the products but in the end it didn't seem that important, the cooking and dinner scene with the Hokage also got cut.

- I did have a small scene with Naruto doing some other things before Katsue show's up but those got cut to work better with the earlier skipped part were Naruto enacted his scheme.

- Funny note, when I cam up with the idea for Katsue I wanted to have it to end the chapter on after she hugs Naruto in the doorway.

- Katsue scene got rewritten a few times before I just rolled with it, I can't write a drunk person that well and ended up skipping the dialogue part with the explanation about her past.

- Yep I changed Tenten's back story, but does she actually have a back story at all? Does she even have a last name? I checked the wiki and it doesn't state one for her. Now this great as it allows authors to change her past in any way they want, she pretty much an open canvas for people to paint. I've read stories where she's actually from a ninja clan from Suna, Danzo's daughter or granddaughter, Sarutobi's granddaughter, a Senju descendent, freaking Zabuza's daughter, just a simple civilian, and very common the daughter of blacksmith.

- Ended up having to rewrite the scene at the apartment with Tenten because the dialogue didn't feel good enough.

The Ten Commandments of Reviewing - created by FictionReader98 and Zoneshifter D, post them if you agree and use them yourself

1) Thou shalt point out the parts you enjoy

2) Thou shalt point out the parts you disliked, if any.

3) Thou shalt point out the parts you utterly hated and explain why

4) Thou shalt write with good grammar!

5) Thou shalt not give annonymous reviews, for the authors might want to reply to thine criticism!

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8) Thou shalt use constructive criticism!

9) Thou shalt review as much as possible, not merely once!

10) Thou shalt voice thine expectations

**Story recommendations : **

**The Promise** By: Rothak

One of my favorite crossovers, everything is done so well, the problem is the author is rather busy and the updates are slower then other stories.

**Naruto: Look to the Stars** By: Beastrider9

A Naruto – Call of Cthulhu crossover, the premise is that Naruto finds the Necronomicon,

the writing get's systematically better after the first few chapters.

The grammar issues are because the author has dyslexia but if you can get past those mistakes you'll find a great story. The stakes only get higher as you read more of it, seeing Cthulhu elements get thrown into the ninja world and watching the chaos that unfolds from that is satisfying as hell.

**Chunin Exam Day** By: Perfect Lionheart

Everyone should read it once.

**Nightfall** By: freowin

Just damn, it's really good, the OC present is well done, Jiraya in the fic actually has a plan for his goal rather then hoping someone else will come up with something.

**Life in Konoha's ANBU** By: Shezza

Holy crap I only found this one a while back and damn do I like, it defiantly deviates from canon on a few points and does a great job of it, the team present has a nice dynamic to it, the tension keep's rising as things progress.


	9. Chapter 9 : A decision made

**I do not own Naruto**

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – normal thoughts  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><em><strong>Listen<strong>_** – biju, higher being thoughts**

**Chapter 9 : A decision made**

When Tenten began to stir she felt strange_, my bed shouldn't feel this comfortable_, when she opened her eyes she saw that she was in a room she hadn't been in before.

As she looked around the room she was in Tenten noticed it was far nicer then the room she lived in at the orphanage, the bed she was on was very big compared to her old one, _it's comfortable alright_, the sheets were clean and didn't have any sort of stains or were torn, the pillows were in the same condition. At the orphanage because of their large numbers the furniture and bed dresses often suffered from wear and tear, the caretakers washed the bed dresses but with the funds they had, which she overheard were insufficient, they ended up cutting some corners, the quality of the detergents used was the first thing to go.

Tenten looked at herself, she was still wearing the same cloths as she had gone to bed with the previous night, she looked around the room next and saw that two small wooden drawers were near the head of the bed, one on each side, a window was on left side of the room, with the shades drawn closed, a wooden desk with two chairs was a bit farther from the only window in the room, near it was a large filled bookshelf and on the right side of the room was a large wooden wardrobe with silver handles and the room's door farther away from it.

She noticed that the walls had pictures of different place, one was of a forest with a river running through it, and one with mountains whose peaks were covered in snow, another one looked like a garden filled with flowers_. What happened? I was at Naruto's home when I fell asleep, did someone take us while during the night? This can't be a dream!_ A small knock on the door brought her attention to it. She didn't answer unsure of what to do, when the knocking resumed, she bit her lip and answered. "Yes?"

After she answered a man entered the room, he had pale skin, a round shaped face, earth brown eyes, and very short brown hair, he was wearing a red shirt with a drawing of a fire with dark fire flames on a side of it, loose grey pants, and was wearing dark blue slippers, the man smiled at her.

"Good morning Tenten, it's good that you are awake."

Tenten narrowed her eyes and tightened her fists, there were horror stories at the orphanage on how some children were wisped away during the night to be sold as slaves and that was the reason why the old caretakers had been removed because they had been caught in the act, but that a few of them remained and continued the practice. Briefly she noticed that her hands didn't hurt as before from the work she had done yesterday, in fact she felt better than ever before. "Who are you? Where's Naruto? Where am I?"

The man went leaned against the wall next to the window. "Well to answer your questions in order, my name is Yukimura, Naruto is with my better half and you are in our home."

Tenten kept her eyes on Yukimura. "Why are we here? Why did you take us from Naruto's home?"

Yukimura chuckled and smiled. "Good attitude little one"

Tenten growled slightly.

Yukimura made a small motion with his right hand. "Calmed down, we didn't take you from there, Naruto considers this place" Yukimura made a small circle using his finger in the air "his real home, and more importantly Naruto is the one who brought you to this place."

Tenten's eyes widened. "What?" _That can't be._

"Confused?"

Tenten nodded.

"Well it's alright. We have plenty of time to talk, now to start things of my other half and I have been taking care of Naruto for quite some time now."

"What do you mean? Naruto didn't say anything about you, did you adopt him?" she grit her teeth as she narrowed her eyes "did you abandon him?"

The man's expression turned serious. "Tenten we would never abandon Naruto"

"That's what you say now!" She tightened her grip on the blanket. "But what about when things get worse for you, what then?"

"Not even then little one" Yukimura shook his head "come what may come we will stand by him."

Tenten still looked at the man uncertain.

Yukimura sighed. "We didn't need to help Naruto, my other half and I could have left the village far behind us without ever looking back if we desired, but we choose to stay and aid him."

Tenten shuffled her feet for a moment. "Why?" she asked uncertain.

"Why do such a thing?"

She nodded.

"A multitude of reasons, amongst them is my own past." Yukimura looked out the window for a moment. "You're an orphan, but not by choice, aren't you?"

Tenten's eyes narrowed. "How do you know that?"

"It is not difficult to figure out, the way you hold yourself, the way you talk and even look at people, if you look close enough you can see the signs there. Events often leave their mark on a person, in time one can read such marks as easy as any other language."

"So what?"

Yukimura turned his gaze from the window to Tenten. "My other self and I are alike with Naruto in some ways, and even to you in a way."

"How?"

"We all lost our parents at a young age and then ended up in a… less than pleasant place after that."

Tenten relaxed slightly. "You're an orphan?"

Yukimura nodded. "Yes, both myself and my other half lived in the same village a long time ago" he smiled for a moment before his face took on a dark look "we were young when the attack occurred" his fist shook slightly "the bandits showed no mercy, we the lucky survivors" he spat the words out "were taken in chains and made slaves for years after the attack until we finally managed to escape the place." Yukimura's gaze returned briefly to the outside of the room for a moment. "I can't say that it was my choice to become an orphan that night many years."

Tenten remained quite taking in what she had been told, she knew that both she and Naruto were orphans and the other children were as well, the reasons were different but in the end they all ended up there. "It still different, what happened to me and you"

"To a degree yes, but even though the path is different the destination is the same. Things that happened and our lives changed for ever, and no matter how much we cried and prayed they didn't go back to what they once were." Yukimura sighed noticing the small look Tenten gave him; _of course the girl would cry hoping for her mother would return_. "When we found Naruto and saw the similarities between our pasts we decided to remain and aid him as best we could, circumstances prevent us from doing much more than we desire. We've been helping him for some time now, teaching and training him and now we would offer you the same outstretched hand we did to him."

She shuffled her feet. "Why?"

Yukimura looked directly into her eyes. "Because you are important to Naruto and because we believe you have potential to achieve great things."

She was taken aback for a moment. _I'm important to him? They think I have potential?_

"I'm not asking that you decide now, you have time to think about the offer, there is something that I must ask of you though."

She narrowed her eyes. "I knew there was something."

Yukimura sighed. "You cannot speak to anyone about myself and my other half's relationship with Naruto."

_That's odd_. "Why?"

"Because we would be forced apart if you did, you wouldn't want to take away the only family he has would you?"

Tenten flinched.

"You are an observant girl you must have noticed that there was something different with Naruto, how people reacted when you asked them about him, a twitch here a scowl there."

Tenten nodded the caretakers had reacted rather ill when she asked about Naruto and some of the other orphans were happy that someone had left the orphanage, she wasn't sure why exactly and after a while they stopped talking about it.

"You found it odd that Naruto has an apartment that the Hokage gave him and that no one was watching over him didn't you?"

She nodded again; it was odd she hadn't heard that happening to someone else before, usually when an orphan reached a certain age they had to leave the orphanage and find a job and a place to stay. A guardian would normally help and look after them for a time to make sure they could manage to live on their own.

"Something is different about him; it is tied to the circumstances of our meeting with him. Tell me Tenten what do you know of the Kyuubi?"

She puzzled at him. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You will find out soon enough, first I would ask that you answer my question, what do you know of the Kyuubi?"

She shrugged. "That it's a huge creature, a fox like Inari but that doesn't help with the crops, I heard some people say it was Inari's evil brother that tried to destroy his brother's work."

_Interesting, I suppose the common people had to explain my old existence somehow._ "And did you hear how it attacked Konoha?"

She nodded. "Yes, I heard people talk about that, some of the merchants at the market commented on how quickly Konoha managed to rebuild."

"Well what you don't know is that while the Kyuubi was defeated it was not killed."

She furrowed her eyebrows again. "What happened to it?"

Yukimura relaxed his stance. "It was imprisoned."

"Where?"

Yukimura shook his head. "Not in a place but in a person."

"What!?" _That can't be._

Yukimura nodded his head. "Yes the Kyuubi was sealed away into a newborn child that night many years ago" he paused for a moment "for whatever reasons."

Everything seemed to fall into place after hearing that, the way the caretakers reacted to Naruto's name, the fact that he lived alone and his apartment. "It's locked up in Naruto isn't it?" she asked slightly bewildered.

"It was."

She picked up on the last word used and panicked. "Was? Is it free? Did it hurt Naruto?"

Yukimura rubbed his chin. "It is free after a certain point of view, and no it did not hurt Naruto."

"But then…"

"The Kyuubi has simply remembered what he was before in ages past."

She looked at him confused.

"The Kyuubi is just a form of an old god little one."

Her eyes widened. "So he really is Inari's brother?!"

"No. The Kyuubi in his true form was already old even before Inari was created."

"So he's not the older brother?"

Yukimura shook his head.

"How do you know so much about it?"

Yukimura smiled. "Why shouldn't I know about my own past?"

Tenten could feel her own heart in her throat. "You….. are…."

"My name is Yukimura little one, at one time a mortal, a god, the Kyuubi and recently a god once more. My own story is rather long and the whole thing is rather unimportant at the moment."

Tenten gulped. "What do you want?" she asked moving away from him.

"My freedom of course" Yukimura shook his head "sadly with Naruto's current seal while I could still leave, to regain all of my power I would need to kill him, something that I am unwilling to do. So while I search for a way to retrieve that part of myself from Naruto I and my other half are training him as best we can."

She gulped. "What will you do when you can recover that part from Naruto?"

"Eventually I will leave this world."

She narrowed her eyes and stopped moving. "So you'll abandon him?"

Yukimura looked out the window before he leveled a hard look towards her. "No parent should ever have to bury their child, I am in many ways immortal, a lifetime for you may pass and I wouldn't feel it, I do not want to have to bury another important person to me simply because I outlived them. I will leave this world when I know that Naruto is good and safe and that he can handle what may come his way."

"Oh"

"As you can imagine if people found out about Naruto meeting me they would do whatever it took to separate us."

"But did you attack the village?"

"There is far more related to the attack than people believe, sadly even if they found out the truth do you think that they would believe me if it came from my mouth? I the great evil fox that attacked their precious village? They would simply say that I am lying and that I have corrupted Naruto and that he needs to be killed because of it."

She gulped before giving him her best intimidating look. "How do I know that you aren't lying about being a god?"

Yukimura took a single step forward, his eyes turned white and his entire body changed, the outline remained but everything else from within him disappeared and was replaced with a view of mountain peaks where snow storms raged and the wind howled like a pack of wolves. In the distance, she could see a green field that looked like it was in the heart of summer. Tenten felt like she was being swallowed by some great force, she could see herself as a small ant against a mountain, no she realized that she far smaller than an ant and he was far greater then a mountain, she could feel it in every bone in her body.

Then just as he began Yukimura stopped and his body returned to normal. "I do hope that helped lend some credence to my words. What you experienced was a small taste of my true divinity given a form that you could understand."

She nodded.

"Good, right now you are in my god realm, time flows a bit differently here, when you shall awaken only one night shall have passed outside of the realm. Here though roughly two months shall pass until you have to leave."

"Can I leave earlier than that?"

"Sadly no, it takes time to adjust to my realm, leaving too early will hurt you, the same for staying more, currently you could stay another month before having to leave." _A lie but it is for the best. _"Now as I said before I do believe you have potential and Naruto views you as a friend so I will offer you what I and my other half have offered Naruto as well, we will train you in what we know to help make you stronger and achieve any dreams you may have."

"Any dreams?" She asked skeptically.

Yukimura nodded. "As long as you do not desire to start killing innocent people I don't see a problem."

"I would never do that!" she replied instantly.

"What is it that you desire then, what do you dream of at night?"

She hesitated and bit her lip before speaking. "I want to become a legend like the shinobi I keep hearing stories about, I want for people to remember my name like they to theirs."

_And there it is, she cannot recall her own last name and desires to be remembered by others._ "That will be a long and difficult road filled with hours upon hours of training, of sweat, blood and tears. Do you think you handle such a thing?"

"Yes! I heard about a lot of stories about legendary shinobi and I know they went through a lot of hardships."

"Oh, so you've found a role model?"

"Well, I wanted to know about a strong kunoichi and…"

"If you want to hear about a strong woman I could tell you about Arturia, **Seras, the Dovakin and Sheppard.**"

She looked at him strangely and bit her lip. "**Who are they?**"

"**Very strong women, who would make a much better role model.**"

"**I have never heard of them.**"

"**Well the first thing you need to understand is just how small this world truly is.**"**Yukimura brought his hands together and a small light began to shine from between them before he opened them and revealed several colored and different sized globes. **"**Now let's talk about this planet.**"

* * *

><p>Both Naruto and Sayaka were in the kitchen at the table waiting for Yukimura and Tenten to join them. Naruto was wearing a pair of short dark blue pants and a red T – shirt with white flames on it while Sayaka was wearing a dark green battle kimono.<p>

Naruto was currently playing with a fork using it as he would a kunai. "Do you think that she will accept?"

Sayaka for her part was trying to simultaneously balance a spoon and a fork upon the uplifted part of a knife. "Yukimura can be charming when he desires it have no doubt about that."

"Really?"

Sayaka nodded. "Yes, he has gotten rather good at it, a while back we would throw in a friendship speech in the middle of the battle and then proceed to viciously beat our opponents down to get them to change sides."

Naruto gave her a bewildered look, "A friendship speech in the middle of a battle? That seems an odd choice, didn't the opponent attack you while making it?"

Sayaka shook her head and gave him a deadpan look. "Oddly enough no, they even had their own little speech ready to use."

"Does that occur often in fights?"

"It shouldn't, but it does from time to time. A well timed word or two can help weaken your opponent, something to make them lose their calm and become enraged or to break their wills and have them accept the killing blow with open arms."

Naruto shrugged. "Huh, I guess that makes sense."

"We planned on starting on this only later in your training, honestly at first we thought that with the whole ninja aspect such a thing wouldn't occur but we realized that we miscalculated."

Naruto nodded and then narrowed his eyebrows looking at Sayaka. "When are we going to talk about what you're keeping from me with the Hokage and Tenten living with me?"

"Tonight after Tenten goes to sleep, there is sadly more to the Hokage than you believe and the second part it is not as much as what we are hiding as what you overlooked."

He raised an eyebrow surprised at her statement. "What I overlooked?"

For a brief moment Sayaka's eyes yellow and she quickly placed the spoon and fork on the table. "They approach."

Naruto quickly strained in his chair and smiled, a moment later Yukimura and Tenten entered the kitchen. He noticed how Tenten had an astonished expression on her face, he knew that look, seeing such a large house after living in the orphanage would astound anyone. _I wonder if he told her about the solar system and the other worlds he's been to_. He waved at her. "Ten-chan!"

Tenten smiled weakly seeing him. "Naruto"

Yukimura placed a hand on Tenten's shoulder. "See he is quite alright and the woman there is my better half."

Tenten nodded towards the woman. "Good day mam."

Sayaka for her part only gave Tenten a small smile. "A pleasure my dear."

"Now Naruto why don't you give Tenten here a tour of the house and the surrounding lands?"

"Ok, come on Ten-chan" Naruto quickly grabbed Tenten by one arm and the two quickly began to leave the kitchen.

It wasn't until after that they felt Naruto and Tenten leave the area near the kitchen that the Yukimura and Sayaka spoke again.

"I take it things went well enough?"

"They went reasonably." Yukimura took a seat at the table. "It helped going through her memories."

Sayaka scoffed. "Of course it did. I take the shell shock and open palm tactic worked well enough?"

"I believe so yes, playing with some of her insecurities certainly helped things along."

"And if she decides to go against us?"

"I have a small backup plan that will prevent her from saying anything, her memories of our meeting will be wiped out and we will simply have to be more careful when she will be approached in the future."

Sayaka nodded. "Perhaps, still we cannot always go poking inside of her head, if we decide to approach her again in the future the strategy will need to be different."

Yukimura raised an eyebrow at her. "You believe that she should be abandoned?"

"It is a possibility, if she refuses once, she may refuse a second time, arranging a meeting with them later would be more difficult and slowly bringing her around would pose other problems as well if she falls prey to the Konoha mentality."

Yukimura nodded. "We will watch how the situation play's out for the time, we have two months to help convince her, some training and a few positive experiences would definitely help out."

"Indeed." Sayaka looked towards the kitchen window. "Naruto is pressing the issues on wanting to know what we are keeping from him related to the Hokage and Tenten living with him."

"Well, it's good to know that he is limiting to only that" Yukimura sighed "he should have figured the matter on her living with him on his own."

"My thoughts exactly, but it is understandable that he would still make some mistakes; we often have our vision become more narrow when we desire something to the point that we miss even the more obvious matters."

"The Hokage matter will be difficult to fully explain."

"Yes, considering that we cannot yet reveal the visions of the possibly future to him."

* * *

><p>Both Naruto and Tenten were sitting on the small bench just outside of the house, Tenten was looking at the flowers, she was entranced by the ocean of color in front of her, flowers of all shapes and sizes were in front of her, with more colors then she imagined.<p>

Naruto leaned into the bench. "They look great don't they?"

"Yeah."

"The two taught me how to make flower arrangements like that as well, I'm still not that good at it though."

Tenten bit her lip before asking the question that was on her mind. "Do you trust them Naruto?"

"Yes. This place is my real home and if I could I would never leave it."

Tenten nodded, looking towards the house. "It is amazing, so many rooms."

"It doesn't compare to the orphanage does it?"

"No it doesn't." She shuffled her feet. "It's just that after what Yukimura told me, I just find it hard to believe it. Yesterday I still thought that Konoha was the biggest place in the world. I didn't even know what the world was to begin with now I probably know more than some of the books in the world!"

Naruto chuckled.

She pouted. "It's not funny."

"Yes, it is more mind blowing, I had the same reaction when I first heard about it as well."

"So you've known them for a long time?"

Naruto nodded. "Yep, since I was four."

"How old are you now?"

"Um, five, almost six actually."

She gave him a skeptical look. "That's not a lot."

"Well, time flows differently here so I should be older than you by now." Naruto countered finishing with a smug smile.

"Oh?" she asked skeptically, before shaking her head, it wouldn't be that surprising. "It's just to accept all of this, it's like I'm under the eyes of two giants."

"Yes. You still have time to think about it, if you don't accept we can still be friends if you want to." Naruto finished the last part in a shy tone of voice.

Tenten nodded.

_I need to push her a bit closer to accepting the offer and to have her adopt a different outlook on Konoha_. "Do you know why I got to leave the orphanage?"

Tenten shook her head. "I thought you were adopted at first, it was odd that none of the caretakers at the orphanage wanted to talk about you. I guess because of your condition they were glad you left."

"I didn't exactly leave on my own two feet."

"Huh?"

Naruto looked away from her, not meeting her eyes. "I got attacked by a shinobi and the caretakers there didn't do anything to help me, they didn't even alert someone hoping that I would die."

"What!" she yelled "How could they do that!?"

"Because of what they think I hold" Naruto rubbed his stomach "a lot of people think that if they hurt me somehow the fox will get injured as well, some probably think that I am the fox."

"But that's stupid!"

"Doesn't really matter. After the attack I ended up in the hospital for two weeks and when I recovered the Hokage got me my own place with some guards. He chuckled. Apparently even he didn't trust the people at the orphanage anymore; I guess that I'm also the reasons why a few of them got changed there."

Tenten's eyes widened at hearing that. _The Hokage must have sent them to prison because of what they did!_

"The night of the attack was when I met Yukimura and Sayaka, and I spent over a year here before returning to Konoha."

"A year!?"

"Yep." Naruto smiled looking at the flowers in front of him. "The best year of my life, I actually felt like I had a family, I still do. I won't trade that away for anything."

Tenten looked at him bewildered shaking her arms. "But they'll leave you one day."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, but in the end people still die, if they were mortal like us they die of old age and I would still lose them, I understand that they want to leave so they won't have to see me die of old age while they keep staying young and living. I'll cherish the time I have with them and remember it until the end."

Tenten just looked at Naruto, she wasn't sure what to say, he was right, from what she remembered her father had died when she very young and all that was left of him in her memories was a blurry image and a feeling of warmth from being around him.

"I have really great memories with them, you should see some of the places they took me, a top a high mountain, a beach."

"How? I mean I still don't know how this places even works."

"Well it's like this..."

* * *

><p>Yukimura's eyes flashed white for a moment. "She is asleep now"<p>

Sayaka nodded. "It has been a long day"

"I hope she will accept"

The three of them were currently in the living room.

"We still have time, don't worry about it Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded. "So can we talk about what the Hokage and why Tenten can't live with me?"

"Well consider the implications if she starts living with you Naruto-kun."

Naruto ran a few scenarios in his head but couldn't see what they were talking about. "It would take a while to get used to it, and I would have a lot of less space for my stuff, but I don't own that many in the first place."

"Naruto-kun you are thinking about the room itself and not the other issues."

Yukimura sighed. "Remember how differently people treat you if Tenten started living with you how do you think they would treat her?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "You think the villagers would treat her just as badly?"

Yukimura nodded. "There is a distinct possibility of that. How do you think the academy instructors would treat her if they knew how close you two were?"

Naruto clenched his teeth. "So being seen with her for now is something that I will have to be careful about."

"Yes, you should be fine meeting in the woods away from prying eyes and in other places people can't see you for now at least. Perhaps later you two will be able to be seen in public together without causing too many problems for her."

Sayaka shifted in her chair for a moment. "And then there is the Hokage to consider."

Naruto looked surprised at the both of them. "Why would he have anything against such a thing, he supposedly sent me to the academy to help me make some friends did he?"

"True, however you must consider your status as well; right now it looks like he's trying to become an important figure in your life."

Naruto nodded. "Well he has succeeded to a degree I suppose."

"Yes, but now Tenten's presence may upset his plans for you."

"You two think he would hurt her?"

Yukimura shifted in his chair. "She is an orphan, so it would far less easier to get rid of her then a child that had parents."

"Do you think he would actually do that?"

Sayaka was the one who answered. "It is only speculation for the moment, however we believe that he has a plan for you; one that would involve isolation that would in effect mentally scar you, the treatment of the villagers would send you to a dark place with his presence being the great light in your life, with you willing to do anything for him. The Anbu guards had to have seen how you were treated at the orphanage and yet he still let it continue not lifting a finger until you were in serious jeopardy and even then he looked ready to send you back while keep the apartment as a back up."

Naruto's eyes widened. "And the academy…"

Sayaka nodded. "Allowing the treatment to continue there would keep you at a certain intellectual level he desired" for a brief moment Naruto remembered the sharp looks the Hogake had sent him when he had made a clever remark, "for every failed attempt he would appear to help cheer you up while also encouraging you to try harder next time, these interactions would strengthen the bond between the two of you."

He smacked on of his right fist into his left palm. "So I could be right, he helped me get access to the library in Konoha to keep a better eye, the people at Ichiraku's could in fact be working for him as well."

"Yes, it is a possibility."

Yukimura spoke up. "From what you've told us about your interactions with him, he seems to be trying to indoctrinate you, he is in effect slowly molding you into what he desires. And the psychological trauma that you could and what he believes are suffering is essential for it."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "All that talk about how great the Hokage's are, I thought he was trying to push me towards wanting the title, and the summons!"

"Yes he most likely has several pieces ready for his plan, including a teacher for you that would share his ideals. That person wouldn't even need to be in on the plan if he was of a mindset the Hokage approved."

Naruto's eyes widened. "If that person was already indoctrinated by the Hokage he would do the same thing to me unknowingly while still believing what he was saying."

"Exactly Naruto-kun."

Naruto clenched his fists. "I knew he had to be up to something!"

Yukimura made a small hand motion. "Now now calm down, we don't have any written proof of this, just observations and logical deductions."

"But it does make sense and I have been thinking about something similar, why hasn't the Sandaime been able to find a foster family for me? Or at least some sort of tutor?"

Yukimura coughed awkwardly. "I'll play the demon's advocate, perhaps he simply didn't think any regular family would have been enough and some may have been against you back then, perhaps he thought that a simple foster family couldn't protect you properly, worse case was that they could very easily functionally brainwashed you into their own tool."

Sayaka scoffed. "Oh and throwing him in the orphanage was a wise move?"

"He could have had his Anbu take care of me, with them spying on me he appears to have plenty of them."

Yukimura shook his head. "It was after the Kyuubi attack, so he probably needed as many boots on the ground as he could get Anbu included and he couldn't simply have them take care of you when they were needed on missions."

"But I still had a guard when I was little didn't I? Would it have been different if I was kept in an Anbu safe house or training room? If I ever snapped the best of the best would be there to cut me down."

Sayaka let out a sigh as she ran a hand through her hair. "Being in a room filled with killers who have given up their identities may not have sat well with him; you would have been loyal yes but only for because you did not know anything else. He would have wanted for you to love the village first so much so that you would have accepted to become one of those faceless ones if the situation called for it. Love is a powerful emotion Naruto-kun it can help to blind you to the truth; if you loved the village you could have easily overlooked its flaws and forgiven its peoples mistakes. With the Anbu you wouldn't have necessarily grown to love the village, and chances are with their missions and more critical thinking you would have ended up seeing the darker side of the village and been much more willing to go against it."

Naruto nodded. "And if he let a clan take care of me, that would have tipped the balance of power to much to in their favor and so to help maintain a balance I ended up in the orphanage, which also fits in with his plan. Do you the third will let me become a civilian if I fail the academy a third time?"

Sayaka sneered. "Not likely, he could use the opportunities to help give you a few bread crumbs about training and help you graduate thus making a stronger bond between the two of you."

"Like we have said before we believe the Hokage wants you good and stupid Naruto, if he is keeping track of the books you are reading and letting the academy instructors run wild it is because he wants you to only learn what he has approved off and nothing more, a smart weapon could turn against you at one point, best make sure it doesn't happen. Once you graduate a new person would come along to continue your indoctrination, the teacher and team would help create bonding moments thus making you believe that you had bonds with those people. The team would create a sort of family for you with the Hokage's chosen jounin watching over the whole thing to ensure it worked right. I wouldn't put it past him to arrange an accident for one of your team mates to help cement your loyalty to Konoha while growing to distain the rest of the world."

Naruto for his part looked horrified.

Sayaka continued. "Now, eventually he could have brought someone else to advance his plans for you, that toad summoner that he mentioned could give you all the attention you needed if he took you on as an apprentice and would further indoctrinate you. Getting acceptance and acknowledgment at that point, not to mention you could in theory have received it from the toads as well would have further cemented your loyalty to the village."

"So showing my real skills is out of the question for a long time possibly permanently?"

"No" Yukimura shook his head "the Hokage will die one day, and that will bring with it opportunities, you raising your skills slightly to be middle of the pack shouldn't affect things to much, if he tries something extreme like sending in a Yamanaka to mess with your head we have a back plan in store, that persons meddling in your head will have their presence momentarily awaken the Kyuubi. I doubt anyone would try to go through your head again if the knew that the Kyuubi would awaken because of it. Now the problem with Tenten is that he may see her as a threat for his plans if you grow to close too her."

"So what should I do? Stay away from her?"

"Not necessarily, we bring her to a level that the Hokage doesn't mind her presence near you."

Naruto's eye widened again. "I see, if she shows that she's loyal to Konoha and wants nothing else than to bring it glory the Hokage may very well accept her presence near me." He bit his own lip. "But he could still hurt her to cement my loyalty for the village couldn't he?"

"Sadly yes, if he wanted to have you hate a particular hidden village, still considering your situation he may refrain from that as it would send you into a rage and with the Kyuubi present that would spell disaster unless handled very carefully."

"So my chances of making any friends in the village have dropped considerably."

Sayaka placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed slightly in an reassuring manner. "We doubt he would make any big moves against a clan heir Naruto-kun."

"So making friends with them has become even more important."

Sayaka nodded. "He may still allow friendships that he doesn't see as threatening to his great plan."

"This sounds very bad."

Yukimura shrugged his shoulders. "Again it could all be wrong; perhaps he is simply incompetent and everything we have observed are just a string of coincidences."

"No I don't think so, those sharp looks he's sent me when I make an observation that's a bit too clever, mentioning the summons and the chances that I one day may sign a contract as well. He clearly has some plan for me and is making sure it stays on track."

"This is why we will need to tread carefully when revealing her to the Hokage Naruto-kun he has to think that her presence won't affect his great plan."

"We already have a plan for the landlord of your building, so her moving into the building won't be a problem for later."

"The rent and other expenses are a lot for her, if she finds a job it would cut into her training time. I still think her living with me is a better option, she wouldn't need to work as much and she would have time to train, any work she does would help us pay the bills."

Yukimura sent him a sharp look. "You do realize that living with someone especially in such a small apartment has its downsides?"

"I… don't mind."

"Very well, if she accepts we will accelerate things with her training to get her up to an acceptable level, once that occurs if she desires it she will move in with you."

"Do you think the Hokage may try to use a Yamanaka against me or her?"

"If he does we are prepared for such a thing on your front and can do the same for her. Back when we first started healing your mind we created a false front, a Yamanaka visited it several times in while you were in the hospital and couldn't tell it wasn't real. When Tenten accepts we will create something similar for her, this way should a Yamanaka try and enter your mind we will be prepared for the possibility."

"It's that strong?!"

"Yes, currently it has a lot of fake memories there of what the Hokage think you are doing while not under his watchful eye."

"Is it permanent?" he asked hopefully.

"Sadly no it still relies on my power to function; we are helping you to train your mind so that eventually it won't be needed."

"But could I learn to do such a thing?"

"It would be difficult, your training has been strengthening your mind as well, in time you will be able to change your mindscape to various degrees. To do what he have done would require that you learn memory partition."

"What is that?"

"It is the ability to partition your thoughts to form multiple independent thought processes. while normal people can only have a single room in their brain and focus on one thought, partitioning adds partitions to the one room to create multiple rooms."

"So if a Yamanaka were to enter on of those rooms and I make it look good enough they would think that it is the only room."

"Exactly"

"I can't wait to learn that."

"It is not an easy skill."

"I'm not afraid of the challenge."

Yukimura sighed. "It is not about being afraid. We will make some changes to see how to include this into your training as well."

Sayaka was the one who approached the issue they all knew had to be addressed. "Tenten will need to be turned against Konoha as well."

Naruto looked towards Sayaka. "I have already laid the seeds for such a thing."

Yukimura nodded. "As have I."

"Good now I believe this is enough for tonight we may continue this discussion tomorrow evening."

"Agreed, we will start teaching Tenten a few things tomorrow."

"Like what? a sudden jump in skill could raise a few eyebrows."

"We are aware of that, nothing to major, a few trips through the forests to teach her about hunting, work on her basics, reading and writing."

Naruto nodded. "Alright"

* * *

><p>In a wide opened hill area with the surroundings battered by combat Yukimura and Sayaka's battered forms started at each other, their eyes having flashed golden for a moment.<p>

"That could have gone better."

"True but it went well enough."

"The conversation about his parents will be far worse."

Yukimura scratched his head. "That's already giving me a headache."

"It will be an interesting one at that, I am curious as to what conclusions he will draw from everything, will he understand his parents reasons, his father's suicidal move and his mother's acceptance of it or will he hate them for it."

Yukimura nodded laying down on the ground. _Damn good spar, it pays to have multiple avatars while in the realm._ "A day to look forward to, it doesn't matter for now, let's go over how we will persuade Tenten about accepting our offer."

"Well the first thing we should do is..."

* * *

><p>Tenten was currently sitting on the grass looking at the night sky thinking about the last few months she had spent in Yukimura's god realm. <strong>It had been the best experience of her short life, the second day in the realm she had spent traveling through a forest with Naruto, Yukimura and Sayaka, they had taken to showing her what plants could be eaten and which ones were poisonous. They encouraged her to ask questions if she didn't understand something and would always explain what she hadn't understood. Later on after returning to the house, Yukimura had taken to teaching her how read and write, to help fill in any gaps she had. <strong>

**The rest of the afternoon had small sparing sessions between her and opponents the two had created, she had been grateful for that, fights did happen in the orphanage and going up against a variety of opponents during the sparring certainly helped her out. Any spar she had with Naruto would usually end up with her on the floor within a few moments after the start of the spar. Naruto was very advanced compared to her, and for the time they wanted her to work on her natural reflex and instincts before moving on to learning actually styles. **

**Later that night the four of them to her surprise had played something called a board game, called Jenga that Sayaka ended up winning. **

To game included loading tray that was used to stack the initial tower which has eighteen levels of three blocks placed adjacent to each other along their long side and perpendicular to the previous level. Once the tower was built, the person who built the tower got the first move, moving in Jenga consisted of taking one and only one block from any level (except the one below the incomplete top level) of the tower, and placing it on the topmost level to complete it. Only one hand would be used at a time when taking blocks from the tower, blocks could still be bumped to find a loose block that would not disturb the rest of the tower. Any block that was moved out of place had to be returned to its original location before removing another block. The turn ended when the next person to move touched the tower or after ten seconds, whichever occurred first. The game ended when the tower fell in even a minor way, in other words, any piece falling from the tower, other than the piece being knocked out to move to the top. The winner was the last person to successfully remove and place a block.

**She had to admit that it had been fun, ****_a lot more fun than anything back at the orphanage_****. Things had continued mostly the same through out the weeks after that, Yukimura and Sayaka would teach her something in the morning either reading and writing, some base math or practical skills, followed by spending some time with Naruto around the house of the lands around it, the two of them often played various games together starting with shogi and other later on. **

**After lunch she would have some free time to do anything she desired, which mostly included sleeping for her. In the afternoon came more training in other fields, with a lot of sparing, her opponents had only gotten more diverse and after a while started wielding weapons. Towards the evening the four of them would gather from time to time and play cards or board games together, or if not they would do something they wanted. **

**She had found Yukimura and Sayaka dancing one evening and had been entranced by it, **graceful twists and turns, intricate foot movement and the way Sayaka's skirt swished and swayed along with the beat of the music, she**asked the two for lessons after that. The had commented about pleasant memories that involved dancing, and Yukimura being good at it despite his two left legs, something that she didn't understand what that meant.**

**In the evening she would often find Naruto stargazing and he would tell her about what the night sky held, in the beginning she **felt breeze chill her soul staring the night sky. One of the best parts about her stay was the food, it was amazing to her, it made the food at the orphanage look like second hand pig food and she still licked her lips thinking about the barbecue Yukimura had made during the second week of her stay. The deserts were not less mouth watering, for snacks she had eaten a different kind of fruit every night for a month straight. To her joy Yukimura had taught her how to make some of the foods he prepared, Naruto himself showed that he could to so as well. Apparently people back in Konoha didn't have jam and didn't know how to make it either, something that Naruto was working on fixing.

A lot of times she had gone out nature walking with one of the three, so that they could show her more of the fruits and plants that she could find in forests, Sayaka had taken to teaching her the basics about hunting and how to track animals and set traps. She had even learned how to wield a knife and make a wooden spear.

The days passed quickly for her, perhaps too quickly, she still had a hard time believing only one night would have passed upon her return to Konoha. She remembered the day Naruto had left the god realm, the day before that she had helped him cook breakfast and gathered vegetables from the garden with him. In the evening Naruto had taken her mountain climbing, it had taken them a few hours to get to the top, and they had both taken a nap after reaching the top of the mountain. She remembered waking up later and watching the night sky with Naruto, Yukimura's explanation of what lay beyond the sky still baffled her.

Flashback.

When she woke Tenten noticed how the it was nighttime already, the climb up had exhausted the both of them, she had Naruto's jacket on her shoulders. The weather felt perfect to her, not as hot as during the day, a cool breeze swept the mountain top and felt refreshing to her, the air felt cleaner at night. She saw Naruto sitting a few feet away from her looking up the night sky, her own gaze went up to is as well, the sky was clear and the stars shinned brighter then ever, taking a few steps she took a seat next to Naruto.

"It nice up here isn't it?"

She looked up at the inky blackness of the night sky she felt it was deep and ice cold and the sense of darkness to it, yet unlike before when she had feared it, now it seemed to have a comforting feeling to it, the darkness and it's mysteries were a welcomed presence to her. "Yes."

"After Yukimura explained to me about the stars I started looking up towards the night sky as often as I can."

"I still have a hard time believing everything he said."

"I had the same problem as well."

"Knowing it makes me feel so small, so insignificant, like I don't even matter."

Naruto wrapped a hand around her shoulders. "You're not insignificant to me Ten-chan." Naruto snuggled closer to her. "For me it holds the promise of great wonders and mysteries that we can't even begin to dream about yet. It helps to put things in perspective, it shows just how unique we are, out all the possibilities we were born in this world, we have a responsibility to live this life to its fullest because of it, no matter what may come."

Flashback end.

An hour later Sayaka had used her magic to help them get back to the house by creating a door in the side of the mountain, something that still boggled her, _actual magic!. _

And now her time to leave had come as well, she had traveled back to the same mountain top as she had with Naruto and looked up at the stars. _I'll have to give them my answer in one week._ She still asked herself if she should accept or not though a part of her already knew the answer, she felt like she had a family again, Yukimura didn't seem to act like the Kyuubi she had heard about.

Telling people about her experiences would probably end up with the two of them in trouble and possibly dead because of it. She needed still needed to return to the orphanage before she decided on anything all three of them wanted her to have some time away from them so she could think about the offer, she got up and began to make her way towards the door to return to the house.

* * *

><p>As Tenten opened her eyes she found herself back in Naruto's apartment, wearing the same clothing she had worn months ago<em>. No just last night, I forgot about them when they gave me other clothes to wear.<em> She looked around the apartment by the light from the window she guessed it was morning, a few sandwiches were on the table with a note near them. Tenten got out of bed and read the note, apparently Naruto had gone up to water some of the plants on the roof and had left her some food on the table for her.

_That's right he's making a small garden up there, I noticed he already had a few pots there already_.

She did a few exercises Yukimura had showed her before going to the bathroom and eating, she considered waiting for Naruto in the room to say goodbye, thinking about what to tell the caretakers at the orphanage about her absence and how she could sneak back in she decided to go up to the rooftop and say her goodbyes.

A brief knock came when she opened the door, by instinct after touching the door handle she opened it and saw a woman in front of it that had a curious expression on her face. The woman had long brown hair that she kept secure with a headband and oblong shaped face, hazel eyes, a small nose and wore the standard shinobi outfit. Tenten narrowed her eyes at the woman. "Who are you?"

The woman in turn narrowed her eyes as well and gave her a critical look. "I could ask you the same thing little girl, and what exactly are you doing at Naruto's home?."

"I'm a friend." she countered.

"Odd he never mentioned you."

"Well I am" she responded and crossed her arms together "what are you supposed to be?" she asked sending her a glare.

"His former academy teacher"

"One of those people who were mean to him!" Naruto had told her how the people at the academy had treated him because of what he contained, even if the woman she now recognized had turned around somewhat.

The woman flinched. "I…"

"Katsue-sensei." The two of them looked to their left and noticed Naruto was standing near the exit of the hallway, his hands looked dirty.

Katsue smiled "Ah Naruto-kun I was just talking to your…" the woman seemed to weigh her words "friend."

Tenten growled a bit at the woman's words, she knew it was some sort of insult.

Naruto smiled. "Yeah this is Ten-chan, she's an old friend from the orphanage!"

Even if she had seen him act like that before his behavior still irked her, she had gotten used to his other personality and now she had to see Naruto wearing a mask.

"Ah I see."

Tenten stepped out into the hallway past the woman and towards Naruto, she hugged him briefly. "I'll see you around." Tenten sent a glare towards the woman before she left the building and began making her way back to the orphanage. She took in a breath of fresh air as she was walking through Konoha, they were in the middle of summer and all of the trees were green. _I have one week to think about the offer, better make the most of it._

* * *

><p>"Ano sensei, what are you doing here so early?"<p>

"Oh, is someone upset to see me?" The woman faked being hurt.

Naruto smiled and shook his head. "Of course not sensei but isn't this place far from your home?"

Katsue smiled. "Actually it's not anymore."

_Oh no._

Katsue got closer to Naruto and knelt on one knee in front of him padding him on the head. "You see I have a little surprise for you Naruto-kun."

_Oh no, please no. _

"I've moved her, the third room from the blocked out staircase in fact."

One world came to Naruto to sum up his current thoughts. _Fuck!_

"That's great sensei." He quickly shoved his head into her chest while hugging her to hide his face. _Something else that I didn't count on in my plans, this just throws things into bigger chaos. Why did she have to move here? _Naruto removed his head from her chest and gave the woman a bright cheerful smile. "Ano isn't this place smaller than what you had sensei?"

"Not really no, it is however much cheaper, my last apartment was on the second floor though and I had better accesses to the stairs. Still I felt like I needed a fresh start and decided to move, this place has plenty of rooms and is much cheaper than what I had before. Plus this way if you need help with anything I'll be right down the hall."

_Well double damn_. "Oh ok."

"Now about this friend of yours." she began in a more serious tone.

"Ten-chan!" _What does she have with her?_

"Yes, her, how well do you know her? Does she sleep over? Did she insist on staying over at your place last night?"

_What is this? twenty questions? tsk I suppose she's concerned about someone taking advantage of me, admirable. _

"Ano, I know her since I was at the orphanage, I think she lived on the streets while I was there, she was my first real friend but I lost touch with her after leaving the place. I kind of insisted she come over yesterday even when she didn't want to, and she just fell asleep after we ate."

"Ah, very well. Now I have to leave for work but we will still meet up for your training."

"At the usual place."

Katsue raised an eyebrow at him. "Not your apartment, now that both our homes are closer?"

"I really like it there, it's so much bigger! And it's green and really smells nice and feels easier to focus there."

"Well alright, for now at least, as a ninja we won't always have the pleasure of fighting where we desire."

He knew he should keep his mouth shut but he still said it anyways. "But now I do, don't I?"

Katsue smiled and nodded. "You're right."

_Good another small spark of my so called genius shown_, _well now I need to change thing yet again to include this in my plans, her presence does raise questions about what I'll do regarding her training during the autumn and winter to keep it a secret from the Hokage's eyes. _

* * *

><p>Tenten's return to the orphanage had not been what she had expected, apparently the caretakers didn't even notice that she had been missing, <em>such caring people<em>. Even forgetting that part, the place she realized was far worse than the remembered, the house in the god realm couldn't even begin to compare to the orphanage.

Even on her trip back to the orphanage through Konoha, everything looked devoid of colors. She had decided to push past the first few things and try to find something good in the place, after racking her brain for three days she hadn't found anything. The conditions in the orphanage were far worse than she remembered; in part she couldn't help but remember the much better conditions from the god realm.

Now every little problem seemed to jump out at her, she could spot all of the stains on the bed dresses, the floor, and the cracks in the walls, how the wooden doors in the orphanage looked ready to fall apart from one good kick. She remembered the conversation she had with Yukimura about the orphanage and why Konoha didn't change the conditions at the place.

Flashback

The two were taking a break after a trip through the forest in which he had shown her some mushrooms that she had mixed up, during their small talk the conditions at the orphanage were brought up and Yukimura gave her an amused look. "Why change it?"

"Because that place has a lot of problems."

Yukimura nodded. "True, and do those facts help motivate you in any way?"

"Yes, I want to get out of the place."

Yukimura raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and how will you do that?"

"Well I help out around the market and I want to join the ninja academy."

"Why the academy?"

Tenten scratched her head. "Well, it's easy to get in and you get some help with the housing if you enroll at the academy."

"Ah and there we have the heart of the matter."

"What?"

"What they do there is to create the conditions that force you to unknowingly march to their tunes."

"Huh?"

"Think of it, you want to work to get out of the place, of course the only work you find is one that isn't paid all that well, but the people who are hiring you are making a small profit by not paying other people more. Likewise when you decide to work full-time, chances are it will still be in a shop in Konoha as people will have already met you, in this case you will help to keep the store going that is simply another small cog of the machine known as Konoha, and you serve it even without knowing it."

"But the academy…"

"Another place were you help the village by spilling your blood for it as a shinobi, the incentives are there to help guide you towards the academy, if you have enough talent and drive you advance towards the main classrooms, if not and you drop out you could still go back to the shop option, now chances are if you managed to stay in the middle of the pack you could still enter the shinobi work force. Did you know that the Yondaime Hokage was an orphan?"

"No."

"Well he was, so the question is why change anything if it works? If the orphanage was able to spew someone as strong as the Yondaime out why change anything at all with the place?"

"Because the place has so many problems that…"

"Help to motivate you to leave the place, and the only options are working in Konoha and trying to become a shinobi in Konoha, notice the only winner there?"

"Konoha!"

"Yes, so what if the conditions are a bad; if they drive you to succeed somehow then it is good enough; if the children are more aggressive with each other then eventually some will adapt and rise above the rest, something that would help Konoha."

"But what about the others?"

"Life is not fair, some will get lost along the way. If it was a better world it wouldn't occur, all that Konoha is doing is helping the processes along the way for its own benefit."

Flashback end

The next she had went with the other children to the market place to find any work they could and she could see some truth in what Yukimura had said, apparently one of the people that employed them at a shop had been in the orphanage and had worked just as they did, the store owner liked his attitude and hired him full-time to run the store. Slowly they would all drift to some place or another, the caretakers did make becoming a ninja sound like a good choice that had benefits for them, and for Konoha unknowingly to them.

It was during the fifth day that she stopped a fight between some children at the orphanage that the one she aided had tried to pick her pocket; she caught him only because some of the training she received. The child wasn't that strong physically and thus couldn't work at the market place but was somewhat good at stealth, trying to survive he eventually started stealing and getting better at it. Of course to her surprise she found out that the boy had been recommended for the academy. Yukimura's words rang through her head and she realized that he was right. _Why change the conditions if they get results._

Tenten considered punching the boy for his attempt but in the end she let him go, making it clear that there would be consequences if he tried it again next time. As much as she wanted to strike the boy for what he attempted to do, she couldn't fault him, they were the same age and she knew that the pressure of the orphanage caretakers added up. The orphans their age were expected to start working somewhere and helping out in the market place was often their best choice but with his weaker strength he couldn't work there, that didn't make the pressure from the caretakers disappear though and the boy had simply become desperate.

She had briefly considered going to the Hokage with everything, but the chances of her being able to see him in the first place were slim, if she mentioned the Kyuubi her chances would rise but that also brought its own risks with it. Chances were high that Naruto could get killed or locked up somewhere until the people were sure that he was a loyal pawn.

Her fate wouldn't be that much better; perhaps she could get treated well for a while if Naruto would get taken down easily and Yukimura and Sayaka wouldn't go on a rampage through out Konoha. But what then, would she be given special treatment in the academy and during her career; that she would always be known as the girl who ratted out her friend, no Konoha would probably view him as the Kyuubi's pawn if they found out that Naruto was close to Yukimura.

She herself still had a hard time believing half the things Yukimura had told and showed her, the chances of other people in Konoha believing him were small, everything he had told her seemed so grand. Naruto would get locked up in a dark cell somewhere if the people of Konoha tried to verify what he told them. She realized that it could well take years for them to verify everything time in which Naruto would stay locked up.

They would mostly likely see everything as a possibly lie, something that wasn't too surprising, one needed to be in his presence to feel the difference between them and him. If they considered what he was telling them the truth, they could still keep Naruto locked up to milk him for information; if he didn't talk they could just keep him locked up until he did.

If the fact that he was a god came up the people of Konoha could be up in arms as it being a lie from the evil creature that attacked them and the chances that Naruto would lose his head rose astronomically, another word she hadn't known before visiting the god realm. This was considering if she herself didn't get locked up somewhere to be used as a pawn against Naruto or have her throat slit.

There was of course the last possibility that she would be sent back to the orphanage with a pat on the back for doing her duty to Konoha and be forgotten, slowly fading in obscurity, her only real accomplishment that she had told Konoha about Naruto, something that would stick with her, it wasn't the way she wanted to be remembered. She doubted that Konoha would just let Yukimura take his biju chakra and leave with it; most likely someone would fight to try and keep it to be used as a weapon.

Declining the offer and continuing on her own just didn't seem like an option, even with just a few months there she had gotten stronger than before, they had taught her a lot in the time she had been there. With that kind of help she could grow far stronger than on her own or with just the academy training and a sensei. Tenten shook her head, she knew that on some level she had decided to accept the offer when she had left the realm and had wanted to say yes to Naruto when she had woken up on the day of her return.

A small part of her had however kept telling her not to accept so quickly, even Naruto while in the god realm encouraged her to think about their offer for the week rather then accept immediately, Yukimura and Sayaka had done the same thing, they wanted her to think on their offer away from the shining lights.

_All that did was to make it seem a lot better, when compared to reality, maybe I could continue on my own, it's still a path open to me, but it looks like it would get hampered by one thing or another, and I do have another option available to me one that is far brighter._

At the end of the week she would visit Naruto again to tell him her decision and sleep over again, it just felt like the best choice to her.

* * *

><p>Both Sayaka and Yukimura were in the living room at the table playing shogi and drinking tea. Sayaka smiled as she moved another piece. "So she has accepted, the meeting was perhaps fortunate, their bonds are still fresh for her, if Naruto had spent more time here he may have forgotten about her."<p>

"True, and while she may not have been the first on our list because of how her past varied."

Sayaka nodded. "She was still on it, in hindsight she should have chosen her first, because of her status she has more room to maneuver rather than the others who would be kept under stricter observation."

Yukimura moved a piece on the board himself. "In some variations she got adopted I did not want to ruin a potential family for her, life with them would have been much simpler, especially if she stayed away from us."

"That is in the past now, she has made her choice and joined us." Sayaka took another sip of her tea.

"Yes, let's revisit the plan for her."

* * *

><p>The small group was gathered in the dojo, the four were in a small circle formation, they were all wearing Gi's.<p>

"Well then we can begin your training in earnest, but like we told Naruto you must keep your full potential a secret until the right time."

"Why?"

Sayaka shifted her position towards her. "The ninja pride themselves on keeping secrets, you could consider it a test of becoming a ninja."

"Well..." she hesitated slightly.

Sayaka continued. "There is also the fact that it would draw a certain amount of attention to you if you revealed too much too soon. Geniuses don't just appear that often, worse because of Naruto's status your association with him may be seen in a bad light for the both of you."

"Huh but why? I can understand keeping your presence a secret but why the need to hide our abilities?"

"Remember that Naruto-kun in the eyes of the village is the jailor of the Kyuubi and thus many will want him to become a weapon, but not a clever one, if he becomes to smart he may get ideas of revenge for his earlier treatment and could plot against them."

"I... " _if Konoha made conditions worse at the orphanage on purpose who's to say they wouldn't do something to Naruto as well. _

Yukimura looked at her and spoke up since they entered the dojo. "If they wanted him as a true mindless weapon they would have trained him since birth, he wouldn't even be here he would be in some dark hole training to kill people, if not already out in the field doing so."

Sayaka continued moments after Yukimura finished speaking. "If he was supposed to have a normal childhood then his status would have been kept a secret in the first place and never revealed, but that carried the risk that he may not become a shinobi and that he could become smarter then he was needed to be."

Lastly Naruto turned towards her. "And so the last option appears, revealing my status would in effect turn the villagers against him, ensuring a harsher life, the situation in the orphanage would be worse, the academy would be as well. Everything to hinder me in some way or another to keep me from my full potential, and in the darkness that surrounded me there would be one light there."

A memory of their meeting in the market place flashed through her mind, it was something that he had said and that she had found odd. "The Hokage..."

"Yes."

"His presence in Naruto-kuns life would have been the great light that made everything better, the Hokage would visit him at the orphanage, would get him an apartment and would make sure to visit him from time to time. During their meeting he would help to indoctrinate Naruto with a sense of loyalty to Konoha above all else, with the Hokage as his light Naruto would be more than willing to become his weapon."

"But..that...why?"

Yukimura sighed. "Konoha at the end of the day is still a mercenary village and as such it needs money to continue to live, a regular army would get all of it's funding from their country, Konoha does not do such a thing. A mercenaries' morals often bend for the sake of money, a soldier has more difficulties refusing a mission, how could he truly refuse it? a mercenary knows what he's getting into, he knows it questionable but he still accepts it knowing it. It is far easier for a mercenary to refuse a mission; he still has the freedom to do so if he does not desire it, a soldier has to face the consequences if he refuses to do so."

Yukimura caught his breath before continuing. "Konoha is no different then the other villages, when their backs were against the wall with the Kyuubi attack what did they do? They channeled their hatred upon a new born child and continue to do so, believing that their mistreatment of him could somehow make things better, that it would help to heal their own wounds. The Hokage himself needs to keep everything afloat and so he makes sacrifices and balances things out, on one side the villagers can treat Naruto harshly to a degree, something to help take out some of their resentment and on the other side the Hokage gains a loyal weapon. Their oh so called great will of fire is nothing but ashes that a strong wind has not blown away yet."

Sayaka sighed her self then gave her a warm look. "Make no make mistake becoming a shinobi of any hidden village will have its fair share of what people consider darkness, shinobi are called upon to complete all sorts of tasks."

"Then what should I do? I... "

"You want to become strong correct? To be remembered in the history books? Well no one ever said that you can't, you don't have to follow the same path as others have before you."

"I don't?"

Sayaka shook her head. "No, if it doesn't exist then create a new one, walk a different path than what others would have you walk. It will not be easy but nothing in life ever is, Yukimura has told you stories of other heroines hasn't he?" Tenten nodded her head. "Did they walk the path that others laid out before them? Or did they strike out on their own? While it is true that we can use your training as a shinobi to help mask your real abilities, you don't have to let the mask become who you are, do not let it define you. Walk a different path, if you still desire to become a shinobi and believe that you can redeem the name, then do so, we will aid even if that is the case."

"You will?"

"Yes."

"Now let's take a small break before we move on to what your training will cover."

* * *

><p>Yukimura rubbed his chin. "Well it is surprising that your teacher has moved into your building."<p>

"And so nearby." Sayaka continued.

"Do you think it is the Hokage? Could she be working for him?"

Yukimura was the one that answered. "Well as a Konoha shinobi she does work for him, if you are referring is she's working with him in the matter concerning you. That is a small possibility, it wouldn't fit with the Hokage's plan of keeping you at a lower skill level that much is certain, unless we were wrong about it."

"No I doubt that."

"So do we, think about the other possibility Naruto-kun."

"I already have, she may be looking for some sort of redemption with training me, moving nearby may actually be more for her sake than my own. It could be some motherly instinct kicking in, or just a string of coincidences."

Sayaka nodded. "With your presence in the building, the number of people living in it has gone down it stand to reasons that she would deduce this as well, and that she could draw the conclusion that the landlord would drop the rent more to help attract other tenants."

"So it's more like a string of coincidences, then anything else."

"Well your actions did help Naruto-kun, you played on her emotions to help advance your plans, your mask worked very well on her. Your presence in the building is another factor to consider, sadly many would view living in the same building as you as something that should be avoided at all costs. Here it's because of the Hokage's actions of placing you in the building and while the landlord could try and make your life miserable he could never evict you as the Hokage could crush him, considering that he hasn't tried anything yet it is possible that he fears the Hokage, is already in his pocket or is more neutral towards you."

"Perhaps, but he could still be the Hokage's man, couldn't he? Just another person to monitor me."

"There is no evidence either to support or deny such a claim, the man would have another key for your apartment to enter it, but a high level ninja wouldn't even require such a thing, it more possible that the man is leaning towards being afraid of the Hokage to try anything."

"Hmm, you mentioned a while back that you had plans for him, what are they?"

Yukimura cut in. "Unfinished at the current time."

"And will they be done soon?"

"Yes, it should definitely give you a small boost when done, we still need to factor in your teacher's presence there, we may be able to use her in them."

"Ahh alright."

"Have you observed anything new about your teacher?"

"No, the same as before, she still looks like she sees training me as some sort of redemption for herself. Her missions have definitely left scars on her psyche and created a deep routed trauma, from what I have observed about her I've come to the conclusion that during in actual life and death fight she may freeze up, the trauma from her last mission has affected her far more then even she has realized."

"Those are still just observations, we don't know if has or has not had a psychic evaluation from someone, if so then they would have spotted such a thing."

"Unless they did and decided that it wasn't bad enough to properly affect her so they let her continue, I wouldn't put it past Konoha to do such a thing."

"That's enough for now you two, we can continue this at a later date, it appears Tenten is ready to continue."

* * *

><p>The four of the group gathered in a circle again with Tenten still looking nervous.<p>

"After your arrival in the god realm Sayaka and myself made several plans on how to properly train you and what to teach you specifically. While you may not have noticed he already started with helping your critical thinking ability and laid the ground work for making you ambidextrous. While watching you train before with Naruto we went over several kinds of martial arts that would suit you."

"Why can't she learn the same martial arts as myself? The Echani style may present some challenges but the rest shouldn't be that big of a difference."

Sayaka was the one to answer his question. "Understand that you are not learning the pure martial arts, they have elements from other martial arts mixed in with them as well."

"You are correct about the Echani art martial art, as she is far older then the required age for such a thing, using the time difference here we could possibly help her advance a bit into the art but she would still be miles behind of you."

"We will be teaching you the Niman and Sokan sword fighting form."

Tenten had to smile at that at least she had seen Naruto fight with his swords the last time she had been in the god realm when she had wielded several weapons herself.

"**Now the first martial arts we will teach you related to close melee combat is called the Verdanaian** strikes, they are by and large reactionary. Intercepting an opponent's strikes, the practitioner will draw the opponent in and let the kinetic energy from their opponent's attacks 'flow through' to their own fist, effectively turning their own attack against them. As a defensive art, this art is taught to mobilize from any stance, standing or sitting, this has already been mixed with Naruto's martial arts as well. The principles here are sound and when try and mix it with other martial arts as well."

"The second is Stava, it first evolved from a series of posture and balance exercises into a complete martial art that encompasses both empty-hand and weapon techniques. Stava however is intended to be a flexible set of principles instead of techniques, focusing on finding the lines of attack and defense in any combat situation and exploiting them to the student's benefit. Stava practitioners begin by learning basic stances and balance and then engage in weapons training by using staffs or cudgels but may in time progress to using battle-axes, swords, and eventually the bare-handed stage. Unlike other martial arts, the Stava stance is one of plain aggression."

"Why didn't you consider this style for me?"

Sayaka gave Naruto an amused look. "She actually did better with the weapons we presented her last time during the sparing than you did when we first tested you."

Tenten couldn't help but to grin a little after that.

"**The next one is called Jeswandi**, a very 'soft' martial art, it is the product of Bothan civil conflicts. This seven thousand year old martial" both Naruto and Tenten's eyes widened at that and their mouth were hanging wide open, "art was developed in ages past, when the Bothans were constantly engaged in clannish warfare. The style itself caters well to those who are not capable or willing to take damage from a full scale frontal assault. Using misdirection and smooth movements, the Jeswandi practitioner prides herself on her ability not only to avoid getting hit, but to use their opponent's aggression to their own benefit. The proficient Jeswandi stylist specializes in their ability to make a target enticing for their opponent, then being able to remove the target from harm's way and act in a fluid motion to take advantage of their opponent's failed strike. This can be done with simple throws or pushes, or by weaving their limbs into their opponent's form and flexing in such ways that joints or limbs are stressed or broken." Yukimura finished and gave the two a curious glance at seeing their face.

Sayaka chuckled. "I think you broke them with the age of the art."

Tenten let out a squeal of pure joy and started jumping around. "I get to learn something like that!?"

"Um" Yukimura paused for a moment "yes."

"That sounds incredible!"

"It is a rather old martial art, but the Echani isn't exactly a new style either. Now just as Naruto is learning Teräs Käsi or Steel Hand, we intend to teach it to you as well the art is brutally efficient, teaching its students how to step inside attacks to avoid damage while delivering viciously effective strikes themselves."

_I wonder if they will train her to use the stealth style as well_. "What about teaching her K'tara?"

Yukimura nodded. "It was considered but we decided to go with another style that may suit her better, it is still intended for stealth and ambush, it has the amazing kicks and uses an equal amount of punches, throws and locks to kill enemies quickly and quietly. Besides that we will begin to work more on your mind, as you could probably tell we worked hard to ensure Naruto has a keen mind, no easy task mind you." Tenten giggled and Naruto pouted.

"We already started covering ambidexterity, hunting and scouting before, now we will do what we can to bring you up to Naruto-kun's level, thanks to his time at the academy we now also have ways to teach you about chakra. Though we are still experimenting with some things, other results are very pleasing."

"Well what are we waiting for? let's get started!"

"Very well, now the first thing is..."

* * *

><p>In a place surrounded by darkness a woman with long, flowing, wavy scarlet hair that reached to her lower back, with red pupils, wearing an elegant dark red kimono tied with a black sash around her waist stood over a shogi board smiling, the shogi pieces had each turned into human figures, a small white globe of light above the board shed light upon the darkness that surrounded her.<p>

"And so you have chosen your first piece, an interesting one at that." The woman raised a piece from the board that had eyes with a ripple-like pattern which spread over them with light a purple sclera and irises. "I wonder how will she fare against my pieces and those of the others?"

* * *

><p>Review away<p>

Constructive criticism or pointing out possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.

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* * *

>Wow 14215 words for this chapter. Completion date 07 V 2014 – publication date, mostly likely 5 VIII 2014<p>- Not that happy with this chapter<p>

- I had to retcon something with the story this chapter; I was conflicted at the start about the issue as it would have raised a few questions about its creation and use before hand.

- Sadly the scenes with Tenten in the god realm were cut short as it would have made the chapter for to large and required to split it and I didn't want to drag things out to much.

- Yukimura and Sayaka don't have solid facts for their conclusions only observations and deductions.

- The new fighting styles are from Star Wars.

* * *

><p>Story recommendations:<p>

**The Fourth's World** By: dripley11

Minato doesn't die in the sealing and continues his reign, making plans to help deal with things, more importantly Naruto has a father growing up, throw in some hints of romance and you have a good story.

**True Warriors Never Die** By: Kenchi618

Another great one from Kenchi 681, the Bleach cha. feel like Bleach cha. and Naruto is well Naruto, some great fights are included as well.

**And So Bind the Chains of Fate** By: HMMaster

A nice mixture of Naruto and Bleach, the pacing is a lot slower then in other stories and in my opinion that helps things along, the characters are more fleshed out this way and changes occur from normal canon. The only problem are the slow updates.


	10. Chapter 10 : Taking steps forward

**This chapter has a lot of time skips; this is done to help speed things up.**

**I do not own Naruto.**

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – normal thoughts  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><em><strong>Listen<strong>_** – biju, higher being thoughts**

**Chapter 10 : Taking steps forward **

Tenten blocked another punch with both of her arms crossed in front of her head, _he's strong alright_, she quickly used her right arm to move Naruto's own attacking arm away and sent an open palm strike to his face that he dodged quickly. Naruto, in response, came in closer and lowered himself slightly and sent a punch to her stomach, she blocked it with her left leg stopping the blow while gritting her teeth from the force of it.

She panicked when Naruto smiled_, he can catch my leg now and hit me with his free hand_, rather then getting away from him she came in closer and placed both hands on his shoulders using her free foot she launched herself up and then jumped over and behind Naruto. _It's still good I still fit with the style_. As soon as she landed she through a straight line backwards kick towards Naruto using her right hand as ground support. Naruto dodged it and grabbed her leg, he smiled and pulled her leg towards him, Tenten knew she would hurt her arm when she saw Naruto's action, _it's my mistake_, the next moment she hit the floor and the air left her lungs.

When Tenten recovered she saw that she was still in the dojo, she was on a mat with Yukimura who was nursing her shoulder; she sighed. _Well at least he didn't get me in a submission choke hold this time_. Naruto and Sayaka were meditating a few feet away from her. "How long was I out?"

Yukimura gave her an encouraging smile. "Just five minutes."

"Oh." _Better then last time._

"You still have some problems using just the academy style."

"Uhh, yes, it's hard to separate all the elements of the other styles I've learned, my body just reacts and I end up using them." The purpose of the spar had been to use just the academy style of taijutsu, she couldn't give too much away with her real style, thus she had been practicing to uses just the academy style and to only later reveal more of her actual style.

Yukimura nodded. "It's understandable; we taught you much more advanced forms and with the spars you've had it makes the academy style obsolete. The academy style itself is designed to be much more malleable so more people can pick it up and then slowly add their own elements later on or discard it entirely. It's meant to provide a good foundation for people, because of that it is simpler; the problem with your training is that you're instincts scream at you to use the more advanced forms that have been drilled into you."

Tenten furrowed her eyebrows thinking about her situation. "Hmmm, so I should keep practicing then?"

"Yes" he patted her on the head, "we still have time until the academy starts, once it does you can slowly reveal some elements."

She nodded. Her training the past few months, _well months outside perhaps_, she guessed that she had spent a year, _perhaps a bit more or less in the god realm in the past few months_, _maybe it will be two years here before the actual year back in the real world ends_. She had met Naruto in the early summer and late spring and now it was near the end of august, it had been around three months since she had started visiting the god realm at the end of each week. Tenten shook her head. _Now I know why Naruto acts so much older, it's because in many ways he is older, and now I'm older as well. _

Tenten relaxed as Yukimura massaged her shoulder gently, she was pleased with how things had been going for her lately; she didn't feel so alone anymore and had gotten training in a multitude of fields, including her much needed vocabulary, she hadn't looked back since. Her fighting skills had gone from street rat to an actual novice fighter; sadly she couldn't show such a thing off in public without rising to many eyebrows.

Her small fights at the orphanage were amusing to her now, while before she had viewed them as dangerous and they felt like an incredible event, now they seemed so small and insignificant they barely even registered to her anymore. It was for the best that she was a dominant figure there, leaving her so called opponents on the floor, at least no one tried to rob her now anymore, not that she hadn't moved a part of her things to Naruto's apartmen already.

_Yukimura was right if I strike the sheppard the sheep will scatter_; she had fought some of the so called tough kids from the orphanage and beaten them down, making an example of those children had made the others think twice about crossing her.

Fights were still a common thing at the orphanage and as long as things didn't get too serious they were allowed to continue, she couldn't change anything there by herself, there were far too many children for her to defeat on her own. And even then if she succeeded they could have teamed up and beaten her afterwards, _if they actually worked together_.

Even if they didn't the problem was that it required her constant presence in case someone got a wise idea about trying something while she was away. The thought of training someone to help her had crossed her mind as well but the problem was that she would in turn become the very thing she had been fighting before. That didn't include if one of the kids she trained didn't become one instead_. _

_A while back I would have never thought such a thing_. At the very least the caretakers didn't allow large gangs that would steel from other children to form in the orphanage, things were still stolen but it was more on an individual level between children rather than an organized gang of them.

She realized that learning the physical part was easier, learning about the laws of power and war were a lot harder, and that didn't even begin to include the part about trickery, that was still something that she dreaded no matter how needed it was. She simply liked the fighting aspects more, especially some of the opponents Yukimura and Sayaka created for her and Naruto to fight. While they both had fought individually against the opponents, they had also worked together as a team, with varying results of course, the first few times trying to fight together had been a disaster but eventually they had made progress.

She wanted to shout it to the high havens, and she did shove it in Naruto's face when they had fought a strong female fighter that had hair buns like she did, Sayaka had commented how the woman that had moped the floor with them had been called Chun Li and had been a strong fighter in her time. Tenten had asked Yukimura to tell her about the woman alongside the others as well, she enjoyed fighting against Chun Li in her spars, even if she would lose quickly. Her thoughts were cut short as Yukimura tapped her on the shoulders and she opened her eyes.

"Alright it's time for the next part now."

Tenten nodded and walked towards Sayaka, it was more about preference now, while Naruto would go with Yukimura to learn about alchemy and herbalism she herself would go with Sayaka to learn about blacksmithing. They both knew a little about the other subject, and she would further study alchemy and herbalism in the future to become more competent at it, she just picked up things related to blacksmithing much easier.

* * *

><p>Yukimura nodded looking at the vial Naruto had given him before handing back to him. "Yes that would be a good poison Naruto."<p>

He smiled. "It's still not that potent, it's a shame I can't enter training ground 44, who knows how many plants there are in that place."

"Don't worry you can investigate that place when you're older; now place the new recipe in the book."

Naruto nodded and went to a book on a small table, after he had started working on making potions Yukimura had suggested to write a journal and then several books with all of the potions he made, both successful and with warning about the ones that proved to be a failure. He had managed to create a few potions using the plants found in the forested areas of Konoha, he reasoned that the village had some place where specific plants were grown or that perhaps some of the clans managed the issue.

His potions and small pills that he had been making weren't different from the chakra and blood pills that the shinobi used, the difference lay in their complexity, he was still starting out and the people making the pills in the village must have had research notes on how to make the pills from the years they had been making them. _Still its better then nothing, the few potions and pills I've made can come in handy in the future. _"Done."

"Good now we can move onto the next part."

He hesitated a moment and bit his lips before speaking. "Before that I wanted to ask about the progress you have made with the new knowledge on chakra."

Yukimura raised an eyebrow at him before nodding. "Quite a bit actually, it's still not safe to teach you any of the jutsu yet; I will say that the S class jutsu are looking good though."

His eyes widened. "That's something alright."

"Yes, we got lucky on the small scraps we found on seals in the teachers lounge, chakra seals have similarities with the magic seals and runes; with it we have been able to advance things a bit on the seal front. It would still help to have a seal master's brain to pick or a proper how to book, a theoretical discussion and study would be a true life saver."

He shook his head. "And does aren't lying around."

"Sadly no, perhaps in time we can find some one to better aid us on that front. Still we are working on creating magic seals from the base up on one project."

"A shame dear sensei's skills don't include seals." He added a bit of spite in his words.

Yukimura rolled his eyes. "She isn't that bad now is she?"

He furrowed his eyebrows looking at Yukimura. "The only reasons she's helping me now is because of guilt, because of the belief that she will have some sort of redemption out of it."

Yukimura shrugged his shoulders. "At least she is trying to do something to make up for past mistakes."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. "Only after she thought she had driven me to suicide not before it."

Yukimura sighed. "Be that as it may you could still look on the bright side."

He sighed. "I'll try."

"Now if there nothing else."

He smiled. "Actually Tenten and I wanted to ask about…"

* * *

><p>Yukimura poured himself more tea. "Things are going well with her."<p>

"Indeed." Sayaka intoned holding her tea cup with three fingers; her pinky and ring finger were held closed. "She has made good progress; it is a shame that her chakra reserves are naturally so low."

Yukimura shook his head. "It is to be expected given her origin, still if she continues her hard work…"

Sayaka smiled. "She will be a true legend who rose through the ranks thanks to her hard work and despite her common origin" the next words from her mouth dripped with venom "unlike Konoha's precious Yondaime"

Yukimura smiled and nodded. "Exactly."

Sayaka leaned back into her chair; they were both in the living room. "You must be happy though, she is getting closer to accepting your morals and way of thinking."

Yukimura sipped his tea. "Children are so malleable at this age and given the amount of time spent together it is natural for them to look up to us and attempt to emulate us."

Sayaka scowled at Yukimura. "I do not particularly enjoy the fact that Naruto seems close to being morally bankrupt and that Tenten is not far behind."

"He is not morally bankrupt, you know this well enough, and given where they live it is to be expected for their morality to be a bit…" he searched for the proper word "different."

Sayaka narrowed her eyes at him. "And your attitude and teachings do not interfere with such a thing at all."

"You are here to balance things out are you not? And I do not tell them to murder innocents."

"No you do not, but given their future profession everything will be seen in grey and it will be far easier for them to fall down a slippery slope from there."

"They will not" he added more force to his words "I am certain of it, with those stories we told them we have placed a good solid foundation."

Sayaka grimaced. "Given Naruto's treatment by the village he will have a far more difficult time holding true to his morals."

"Then we must trust in his training and have faith in him." For a moment both Yukimura and Sayaka's eyes glowed yellow. "Well that experiment went well."

"Indeed, we will be able to set the plan for his landlord in motion next year."

"Tsk, I had hoped for it to be enacted this year, but I suppose this will do as well, setting all the pieces is half the fun of the game, with the discovery of his solid henge and the plans for the books, it is good enough for this year."

Sayaka's face took on a thoughtful look. "Yes, it is, we will need to get them used to the idea of killing people for when we raid the temple."

Yukimura hesitated for a minute. "Yes, you are right" he sighed, "killing animals on the hunts here has done a good job of laying the ground work for that."

Sayaka took on a harsher tone. "It is one thing to kill an animal and a different thing to kill a human being."

Yukimura lowered his head and looked into his teacup. "There is still time before that; after we get them more used to it we will have them perform their first kill on a mock mission here. It will be during the summer break when we they will have more free time and will not be supervised by the academy instructors."

Sayaka nodded placing her teacup on the table. "Indeed, at the very least the event is a few years away."

"Yes, we still need to disable the Hokage's crystal ball."

"Getting the Hokage out of the office while Naruto remains there to pump your magic into it and to help change a few things related to it while giving the user an impulse to stop wanting to make frequent use of it for its more practical side." Sayaka shook her head. "Tying this to the Uchiha massacre seems like our best bet chance, however given how far away it is tying it to Naruto's landlord may be give us more freedom then we currently have."

"Yes, orchestrating another event that won't have large ramifications is more difficult to achieve, our simulations certainly prove this."

Both Yukimura and Sayaka's eyes glowed yellow once more. "Oh? So the children want to see a fight between us do they?" Sayaka face took on a predatory smile. "We should oblige shouldn't we?"

"Yes" Yukimura chuckled, "and I think I will use my Inari form."

Sayaka raised an eyebrow at him. "Things have been going well enough on that front, in time it will be yours entirely and a few answers to people's prayers won't hurt. Now what form should I use?"

* * *

><p>Naruto and Tenten looked on at a forested valley with a river that reminded them of Konoha without the buildings and wall, it even had the large mountain that normaly had the Hokage monument. They were currently in a transparent box of sorts suspended in the air to the right side of the mountain looking towards the valley the saw small lights begin to appear there.<p>

The both of them swallowed heavily as from the surrounding trees light blue flames emerged and more then half the valley began to glow from them, slowly all of the flames began gathering at one point and forming a pillar of light that broke apart as a roar was heard through out the valley.

Where the pillar of light once stood in its place a thirty meters tall and two kilometers wide golden fox with nine tails that had a light blue fire at the tip of its tails and its feet stood. The fox had a muscular body and a white mane around its chest and lower jaw with red and white ropes tied in a ribbon around its lower neck that ended with a bell on each end near its own knees. From what Naruto could see the tips of the fox ears were also white as was the underside of its body.

Both Naruto and Tenten gulped and began to tremble. "It's too big!" Naruto couldn't even nod. _Was the Kyuubi like this?_

A screeching noise filled the air snapping them out of their daze, both Naruto and Tenten looked up to the sky in the other part of the valley were the clouds were parting as something descendent from them. At first all they could see were a pair of bird clawed feet, just one of its claws was larger then a full grown adult.

Slowly the creature landed from the sky and touched the ground; it stood at fifty meters tall and its shoulders were twenty-eight meters wide, it had the body of a strong man covered in red fur, the lower part of its body from its abdomen down to below the knee were of a blood read color, just above the knees it had two horizontal white lines with strange symbols they didn't understand.

They noticed how the creature had two red horizontal lines across its feet as well, its upper body was or a red color and the chest area had a white mane as well, its head had an eagle's beak and with dark red mask that covered its face with blue marks on it and a white feather with a blue tip atop of it. Its sharp clawed arms ended just below its knees, they noticed that it had he same strange symbols from its knees on its arms as well. The creature had three feathers with golden tips on each shoulder and a pair of massive red wings that ended with golden feathers that had two horizontal red lines on them. Naruto and Tenten squeezed each others hands looking at the creature.

The two creatures eyed each other as they stood in the valley slowly moving their claws, the fox began the attack, the blue flames on its tails become brighter and ghostly faces appeared on them, the faces then become small fireballs which it launched at its opponent, the bird creature raised its fists into a block withstanding the attack rather then dodging it.

The fireballs had barely made any scratches on the winged creature's body, it surged forward its massive clawed feet leaving holes in the ground it walked on. Its fists erupted into flames and it made a swipe towards the fox with its left hand that the fox managed to dodge quickly by dodging down, the winged creature spun around and attacked again with its right clawed hand, the fox that had gotten up dodged this time as well by jumping backward but couldn't evade the blow completely as the fire from the winged creature's crimson claws hit it in the chest leaving marks there and causing it to howl in pain, the ropes on its chest were now slightly burned and the bells rang as it thrashed.

The winged creature spread it massive wings that looked to be one hundred meters wide, and soared into the air, the two of them could now see its full body with all of its details, how the different shades of red of its body and the golden of its feather and clawed hands and feet worked to give it a fierce look. Its white mane and dark blue markings on its face accentuated its intimidating aura, it muscles were visible as it clenched its massive fist; to Tenten it looked majestic, she felt like the creature could burn away all the evil in the world.

It roared once before it began to flap it massive wings, the fox looked to back away before it howled as a small cut appeared on its chest, it continued to howl as it backed away trashing about. Tenten couldn't see exactly what was happening with the fox or what the winged creature was doing; Naruto seemed to have read her mind as he spoke from near her.

"The wind! It's actually using the wind as a weapon creating blades with it and chopping at its opponent!"

Tenten looked closer and could faintly make something out traveling from the creature's wings, but to her it was more of a silhouette shaped like a black bird then any blade she had seen.

The winged creature finished of its attack with one massive gust of wind sent towards the fox that sliced into it and the earth around it raising clouds of dust from the ground obscuring it, the creature touched the ground again in front of the mountain it had been before. Not a moment later the fox surged out of the dust cloud and slammed head first into the winged creature's stomach sending the both of them crashing into the mountain behind them and destroying it in the process.

The fox used its tails and wrapped them around the winged creature's arms and legs to keep it pined down, it lowered itself on its hind legs before ramming into the winged creature's torso again causing the earth to rumble as it did. The winged creature howled in pain, it began to move its arms only to be blocked by the fox's tails, with effort it moved its left arm and it quickly saw the fox sink its teeth into it eliciting another round of howls.

The winged creature trashed around and even with the fox's tails holding onto it managed with great effort to raise its right arm and then bring it crashing down onto the fox's head. The fox instinctively bit deeper into the winged creature's arm as the blow fell, a moment its concentration broke and the winged creature brought its fist back down like a hammer onto its skull dragging the fox's tails with it.

The fox loosened its grip on the winged creatures arm as another blow fell upon it, it released it hold and brought its head back up creating a small white fireball above its mouth while the fires of its tails intensified burning whatever they touched. The winged creature grabbed the fox's snot closing its mouth with its right hand and forcibly raised it upright then hit it with it left fist, as the fox's gripped loosened further it used the chance to free itself from the creatures tails.

As the fox stumbled back the winged creature's fists erupted into flames once more and it thrust the both of them into the fox's chest the force of the blow together with the wave of fire of the blow sent the fox flying back and crashing into ground cracking the earth were it hit. The shockwave of the blow was felt through out the valley as cracks appeared and the earth was raised and in places trees caught fire, the winged creature arouse up bleeding from its left hand and more scorched from the fox's fire.

The fox emerged wobbling from the dust cloud badly injured, the ropes around it body were now gone, it had burn marks upon its chest and was bleeding in several places, its pure white mane was now crimson from its own blood, it's golden body was no better of as it covered in dust and the blood the two mixing together to create a muddy appearance for the fox.

Even with all the injuries it had taken Tenten could see that the creature still had fight in it, the fox's eyes were filled with defiance and it barred its teeth as if to challenge the winged creature and strained raising it tails once more.

The winged creature used its wings and soured into the air a good distance then it raised its fist horizontally to its wings and flames erupted from them again, the creature began to spin slowly at first and then faster, the air surrounding it with great speed as if answering the call of its mistress, she understood what it was doing a moment later when the fires of its fist spread through out it's new construct, it had created a tornado of fire. The next moment the winged creature and its tornado began to descend upon its target with force.

A massive howl filled the valley again, Tenten shifted her gaze from the fire tornado to the fox who sunk its clawed feet into the earth and closed its eyes. "It's going to try and withstand it!"

"There's no way it can withstand that kind of attack it should try and dodge."

She bit her lip as she shook her head. "It has to have a reason for doing such a thing; I don't think its accepting death just yet."

The fire from the fox's tails suddenly erupted becoming much larger as the fox opened its eyes, determination clear in them; it sent four fireballs in front of it at different points with another five in the middle of the four. The five fireballs arranged themselves in around the central fireball forming a circle around it, small flamed wires shout of the fireballs and began to connect with each other and the other four in every which way until they were all connected and it now resembled a wall of blue thin wires.

The fox brought its tails close to its mouth and created a large fireball that was condescend into a smaller one and shot it forward into the five other fireballs in front of it causing the flames to erupt from the wires creating a solid wall of blue fire in front of it.

The processes was quicker then she thought possibly as the winged creature and its fire tornado had been descending down upon it the whole time, it looked now that the winged creature couldn't or wouldn't alter its path anymore and continued towards the wall. As the tornado of fire impacted the wall of blue fire both Naruto and Tenten instinctively shielded their eyes, they didn't see what happened but the sound that filled their ears was that of a thunder that shook them to their being before silenced engulfed them and blinding light took their vision away.

A lifetime seemed to pass before Tenten's vision returned; she rubbed her eyes and looked towards Naruto who was rubbing his eyes as well, she place a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm alright, you?"

"Yes" she nodded "I'm fine."

"Is it over?" he asked still rubbing his eyes.

She flicked her gaze back, the destruction done to the valley was immense, the last clash between the two creatures had incinerated the trees in the valley and not even ashes remained, the largest change however was a dark massive crater, the fire from the clash of the two attacks had turned the earth black. The sky was now filled with storm clouds and looked only moments away from unleashing a storm to drown out what was left of the valley.

The fox stood in front of the crater with what looked like a grin on its face, it looked more fatigued but bore no new marks of the battle. _The wall it created must have stooped that attack entirely, then what about the other creature?_ She looked towards the crater but couldn't see anything inside of it, _was it destroyed?_ Her gaze shifted to around the area before her eyes landed on the winged creature's left leg, she looked towards the destroyed mountain and could make out the creature's body even with large chunks of earth that covered it. "I think it won."

As if on queue the winged creature began to stir and arouse slowly from the ground, it now looked far more battered then the fox did, its red color had changed to a black one, large scars littered the creature's body, its chest was now covered in dried blood and its shoulders were hunched over, the creature's breathing was heavy.

The fox's grin grew larger as it dug its claws into the earth and raised its tails up, the blue flames on its tails become brighter, and ghostly faces appeared on them. The faces then become fireballs in the shape of dragon heads which it launched at its opponent, the winged creature raised its right hand and sent a flamed claw strike at the oncoming attack only for the fireballs to be unaffected by the flame strike. The winged creature closed its wings before the fireballs hit it causing white flashes on impact sending the creature flying back and crashing into the ground.

Moments passed and it looked like the fight was over before the winged creature managed to get up, it looked to be on its last leg, the creature spread out its wings again and flew high up into the air, much higher then it did before and began to make large circles in the stormy sky slowly increasing its speed.

Tenten looked perplexed at the sight she wasn't sure what the creature wanted to do but she had a sickening feeling in her stomach, it felt like her body had accepted that she would meet her end here and it no longer told her to run as there wouldn't be a point to it. She hopped at least that the two of them would be safe; their little room hadn't been damaged by any of the attacks. Tenten heard Naruto's voice from besides her, he hadn't said much either since the battle began; neither of them could take their eyes of the sky.

"What is it doing? It doesn't look like its retreating so…"

As she looked up at the sky Tenten thought that she could see something behind the bird creature, something small barely noticeable but that seemed to follow it, she looked closer and while she could see that shape of it, something seemed to be moving behind the creature before a moment later when the creature plowed through it in its movement. _Is it dead?_ She looked back and there was still something there. _No_.

A moment later Tenten froze realizing what the creature was doing with its strange movements, her heart felt like it stopped and that the world had gone grey and still, she could see everything unmoving like in a painting, she wanted to reach out and touch Naruto but her own movements were locked in place all she could do was look around, she blinked once and the world returned to colors again. "It's going to attack."

"Huh?" Naruto asked puzzled.

Tenten felt like she could feel her heart in every part of her body. "Remember its earlier attack?"

"What are you…" he stopped when he saw it as well.

By now it was clear what the creature was doing, slowly it began to take shape, the outer ring took the shape of flowing grey rivers, the clouds in the middle looked like a restless grey sea during a storm with waves rising and falling, she gulped_, there!_ In the middle of that sea a small black hole appeared and the sea looked to be slowly drained by it, with each passing moment the hole grew larger and larger it looked to be swallowing everything within itself, the waves she had seen earlier grew more restless now. It was from within that whole that the something emerged from it, the clouds there were rotating and appeared to descend from the storm downwards, Tenten would swear that she heard the sound of a raging waterfall; the creatures reappeared inside of it, right in the heart of its proud creation.

"A tornado." Naruto final spoke finding his words.

Tenten nodded, the creature had created a tornado but one that was four kilometers wide and by the looks of it wasn't done with it just yet, both Tenten and Naruto would remember the event as the first true bowl loosening moment of their lives. She gulped her eyes never leaving the sky, she knew on some level what would follow as the creature had used a similar attack not long ago but not on the same scale as this one.

Almost as if reading her mind the creature began to move inside of the tornado increasing its strength as it descendent downwards towards the fox, a moment later she closed her eyes as waves of fire hit their small room. The creature had finally done it, the tornado and the sky itself were now on fire and descending towards the fox, the entire sky as far as the eye could see now looked like an ocean of flames.

The fox roared in response, the flames on its body became more intense and quickly enveloped its body burning the area around it, the fox looked towards its oncoming enemy and howled one last time as it prepared to meet its enemies challenge. The fox jumped into the air and it body seemed to close in on its self as it began to spin very fast, something that caused the flames on its body to erupt in a fiery inferno, which now turned its body into a ball of swirling white fire. From within the ball came a new roar that filled the air before a mystical dragon emerged from the fire charging forward to destroy its enemy.

The white flame dragon surged forward through the sky while at the heart of the fire the tornado the winged creature moved forward covered in flames as well, the two met in the sky and everything turned white from the impact.

* * *

><p>Yukimura and Sayaka looked at the unconscious Naruto and Tenten with smiles on their faces.<p>

"Well they did want to see a fight between us."

Sayaka smiled looking at the two passed out children. "Yes they did, and now we will need to work to make sure they get over their shock."

"We still have time before they need to return and after this experience I doubt they will get shocked by anything else during their lifetime."

"Indeed, they could watch biju fight one another and not be that shocked about such a sight. Personally I'd find that rather tame compared to our battle."

"True enough, now let's get them back to their rooms, and see about a change of cloths for them, they still have a far bit of training to finish."

Sayaka chuckled and nodded. "Or we could just take them to the bathroom directly." She smiled. "To help them freshen up."

Yukimura laughed and shook his head. "That could work as well."

* * *

><p><em>For every battle honor, a thousand heroes die alone, unsung, and unremembered.<em>

Itachi Uchiha slowly cleaned the blood of his blade, the shadows around him appeared to weave a cloak of darkness around him, he didn't notice such a thing, he was concentrated on his task. He had known full well of the darkness that he would be stepping into when he signed up for Anbu, they were the unseen shadows that moved in the dark_. Self-sacrifice a nameless shinobi who protects peace within its shadow, that is a true shinobi._

Since joining Anbu he had been distinguishing himself during missions, managing to earn the praise of his team members and even the Hokage after a particular mission. Many considered it an honor for one as young as him to join Anbu; his father had called it taking up the rightful place amongst the best that the village had to offer.

It mattered little to him, he was simply doing his duty, the missions Anbu did helped to ensure that the chances of a war between the great nations occurring was kept low, no matter what sacrifice was needed he would gladly make it to ensure that a new war would not occur. _Even with its dark side and its inconsistencies the village is the last best hope for peace. _

He wanted the young generation to be spared the sight of horror that war spawned and left deep marks on the souls of those who fought in them. This was something his father never understood, even if he supposedly fought in war, he still placed the good of the clan above the good of the village, try what they might his clan could never accomplish what Konoha could in terms of ensuring peace. _The needs of the many must be placed above the needs of the few. _

He hoped the matters between the village and his clan would be resolved soon before they escalated further and more drastic measures would not be needed. _A shinobi must endure the hardships that are thrown his way; I wonder if you remember this father_. Itachi relaxed his shoulders as he made his way towards his locker the cloak of darkness dispelling from around him, he still had time before his next mission, time that he ended to spend at home with his friend Shisui and his little brother. The thought that Sasuke would never have to step foot on a field of war helped to spur him during the darker missions of Anbu.

* * *

><p>When Tenten woke up she checked her surroundings again, seeing the ordinary orphanage room she stretched and yawned, while going to the god realm was great the problem was that her body would be comatose while she was there and even on her return it would take a small period of time for her to fully return and awaken. Sadly given her future profession she wouldn't really be able to travel to the god realm while on mission, except under special circumstances.<p>

The excuse that she was a heavy sleeper was one thing, but both she and Naruto would come close to a medical condition if people found out about it. It wasn't so bad if one was safe in their one home, sadly at the orphanage one tended to try and steal things from another while people slept, she doubted anyone would try it on her anymore but there was always someone that thought that they could succeed, either thanks to luck or some great skill they thought they possessed.

She wrapped her blanket tighter around herself, its state left much to be desired but given the conditions at the orphanage it could have been far worse, she missed the comfort of her bed in the god realm, even Naruto's bed at his apartment was better. She couldn't tell what time it was but given how none of the other children were awake she guessed it wasn't even seven in the morning.

After she had accepted the offer to join Naruto, Yukimura had given her a mark to allow her to travel to the realm without having to be near Naruto. She started spending more time with Naruto in the forested areas in Konoha away from prying eyes, while the training in the god realm was great she still needed to train her body when she returned to it.

The two of them had visited the god realm with their physical bodies at the end of one week to help further their training but couldn't do as often as they wanted as they would grow much faster then the rest of the children in Konoha and would raise alarms. They had at one point slept one afternoon near the portal to the god realm rather then in Naruto's apartment, the area was well hidden and Yukimura and Sayaka had both placed some protection around the place.

Tenten breathed slowly as she began to go through the chakra exercises she had been taught, while she still went with the other orphans to the market to work there it wasn't as often as before, she would mostly help Naruto out with his food projects and he would pay her to justify her absence from the market. If others could steel from around Konoha she could well lie about were she worked, people didn't seem to care that much anyway. It still hurt knowing that Naruto had to make cuts to his own limited budget for her; at least Yukimura and Sayaka were close to enacting a plan to help Naruto make his own money, she herself was helping on the food front alongside Naruto. Apparently she had missed a few visits of people looking to adopt children, perhaps before she would have been angry with that, now she didn't care that much.

She breathed in before breathing back out as she moved on to the next exercise, this week Naruto would go on a small prank spree to help keep his mask in place and they would meet up later during the week. She finished her last exercise and stretched before getting out of bed, she lit a scented candle that Katsue had given her, sharing a room with some many other children had its own downside, even with Katsue's willingness to tutor her, she couldn't trust the woman after hearing how she had treated Naruto before her change of heart. She looked herself over before heading towards the kitchen after that she would travel through Konoha and to find some sort of work. _Early bird get's the worm._ Later she would practice her acting skills; she needed to be ready for the eventual meeting with the Hokage.

* * *

><p>"So Naruto-kun, do you want to tell me why you decided to prank the academy and those shops?" Katsue asked sitting on the arms of a chair instead of the actual seat taping her foot on the ground.<p>

"Ah, ha ha ha." Naruto laughed uncomfortably scratching the back of his head. He was currently in Katsue's apartment, after he had finished his pranks and returned to his apartment Katsue had visited him that evening twice, the second time she had hauled him over to her apartment. He admitted that the place looked good, Katsue had the place arranged well enough, it wasn't the first time he had been over to it either as he had eaten dinner with her a few times. Naruto guessed that she was worried about him; he was still technically five years old in the world's eyes so it was understandable. He dreaded if the two ever had dinner at his place and the Hokage decided to spy on him then and catch the two eating, chances were high that Katsue would take a fall down a flight of stairs, _a very long set of stairs with rusty and sharp objects. _

**Katsue was wearing a dark purple shirt and a pair of beige cargo pants, it was something else that he had noticed about her after spending time together, the woman had a terrible fashion sense, her saving grace was that she spent a good deal of time wearing her shinobi attire that she thankfully didn't alter. **

**He cast a small look around the apartment to buy time before answering the woman's question; he noticed a few scented candles she had made days ago, near **a dollhouse with yellow walls. _It could be worse, it could be orange._ From what he observed Katsue had several hobbies, one of them was of making items, them being scented candles and soap that she would give to some of the other teachers at the academy and to him and Tenten as well.

The other one that he couldn't quite explain was that she made doll houses, Katsue had been working on the one with the yellow walls for some time now, asking about it would only lead to her dodging the question. He couldn't tell from Katsue's past what would inspire such a hobby and it irked him to a degree for some reason.

"I'm waiting." She was tapping her foot on the ground faster now giving him a hard look.

_If it's one thing that I'm grateful for is that you so predictable dear sensei_. Naruto laughed a bit as he hit the ground with one leg and pouted. "Those shopkeepers were mean to me, and I saw the teachers in the shops and nearby agreeing with them, so I just pranked them."

Katsue grimaced and he could see a small amount of rage flicker across her face as well. "Uh... Naruto-kun, this isn't going to help your reputation, it will be important later for your career as a ninja."

_Ha, yeah like I have a good one already_. "They were still mean." He looked down to the ground. "I'm sorry you got hit as well sensei." The image of a feather covered Katsue knocking at his door and telling him not to leave flashed through his mind for an instant.

"Ah, I suppose these things happen." She padded him on the head. "I'm actually impressed with them."

"You are?" he asked hopefully sending her a hopeful look.

Katsue nodded. "Yes, they showed a lot of creativity and stealth to set them up."

"Thank you sensei!" Naruto smiled looking at the floor.

Katsue smiled padding his head again. "I have to ask were did you get the feathers and glue?"

"Oh that, heh, I got them from one of the farms in Konoha, I saw a man throw them away and kept them."

Katsue sent him a sharp suspicious look. "Did you go through the trash to get them?"

"Um...no." He answered in a slightly panicked tone of voice making it clear that he was lying and trying to hide it.

Katsue sighed as she rubbed her forehead. "Did you at least wash you hands after you were done?"

"Yep!" He nodded enthusiastically. "I even took a shower! I remember that you always have to wash your hands after touching something dirty."

Katsue nodded. "Good, though I want you to avoid going through peoples trash in the future Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked at her like she had grown a second head. "But they through away such good stuff, like the glue!"

"Uhhh, even if they throw away such things Naruto." _Even with his training his mentality hasn't changed, considering his young age it understandable, but I'll need to change it in the future._ "Wait that glue was expired?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know, the mister from the shop through it away so maybe, I checked the library for how to make my own though."

"Well, it's nice to know that you are putting our training to good use."

_You have no idea_. "You bet sensei! Before I didn't even know how to do half of the stuff I do now, it's great."

"Just be more careful next time and try to restrict the pranks a bit more alright?" _Maybe I can get him to eventually stop the pranks altogether if he tones them down in time. I can't truly fault him for lashing out given his treatment and his skills with stealth are very good given his young age. I can see him becoming a trap master, but sadly people might panic if they realized how good he is at the pranks and how easily they could turn deadly if he replaced parts of them. _

"Ok sensei" he looked at an object in the room "can you play a bit sensei?"

Katsue shook her head. "Not tonight Naruto-kun"

"Oh, ok." He wasn't ashamed to admit it, he liked hearing the woman play the guitar, it sounded relaxing to him, he had a small embarrassing moment when he had fallen asleep hearing her play and Katsue had taken him back to his apartment in her arms. "Ano about training this week sensei."

"Hm, yes what about it?"

"I don't know if I'll be able to make it, Ten-chan and I have to start gathering some of the fruits from around Konoha."

She remembered that Naruto did have a small garden on the roof and had a few plants at their meeting place in the woods as well. "Well that's actually quite alright Naruto-kun, we are far ahead with our lectures already, so we can skip this week, just remember to study up on what you already have."

"Hai!"

She wasn't lying when she told him that they were advanced with their lectures, the fact that Naruto already knew how to read and write had been a good boost for them and after cutting out large parts of what she considered unimportant from the curriculum in order to stick with the more essential aspects they had managed to make head way with the curriculum. She was already laying the groundwork for the academy three and would be able to teach them to him by next year.

Katsue grimaced slightly, she knew that next year Naruto would attend the academy again and that there were still chances that the academy teacher could get away with sabotaging him, she could agree with him not becoming a shinobi too young, she didn't want him or other children exposed to that kind of life early on.

The problem was the faulty education he could get from the academy teachers there that did more harm to him and could endanger his life in the future if it was bad enough. She figured that if she was his class teacher then she could help mitigate some of the damage done, or do so with their training after the academy hours were done. It was the reason why she has asked to become a teacher for a new class that started next year, already a part of the students were on the failing spectrum and the existing classes would need to be restructured. _If I can get to be his teacher through the academy and with that Tenten girl as a potential teammate, his chances look a lot better. _

* * *

><p>Both Naruto and Tenten were at the Hokage monument looking over the whole of Konoha as the sun slowly set with evening approaching the air had cooled and up on the monument a small cool breeze had settled in.<p>

Naruto shook his head, both he and Tenten had been wandering around Konoha today, and the results were disturbing. Tenten had managed to scout out the palace where important figures resided while visiting Konoha and discovered that it had no apparent outside guards. She had stayed close to the place and hadn't heard anyone inside of it either, or seen anyone enter or leave the place.

They chalked it to there being some sort of security seal inside of the building and some hidden guards, the place seemed too important to leave unguarded. They did consider the option that Konoha thought that the place didn't need any guards whatsoever, but that just seemed far too unrealistic for them.

Worse was that the gate guards would only superficially check the people entering Konoha and would take excessive long breaks, time in which the gates remained unguarded and anyone could enter the place. And all of the guards from the three gates in Konoha did this, they dreaded thinking about whether it was the same during the night.

Both Naruto and Tenten had managed to actually leave Konoha and explored the outside area for a short time, apparently Konoha had at one point had a large number of small outposts around it for early detection but most of them had been largely abandoned, exactly when was a mystery to them but it looked like most of them hadn't been in use in the last ten years. The few that remained looked just as rundown as the rest and looked understaffed; all in all it gave a bare bone appearance. Both of them decided to chock it up to an, hopefully, increased guard presence on the walls around the village, a short look there also dashed those expectations as the guards didn't look that numerous or interested in their duties.

A small walk around the walls of Konoha showed that the cracks existed in several places, while in other parts the cracks had been hastily patched up, a quick use of Yukimura's magic revealed a barrier of sorts around Konoha and seals on the walls as well. In the end they decided that a more comprehensive investigation of Konoha's defenses was needed, they decided to shelve the idea for the current time. If it their trip accomplished anything it had been that Tenten's opinion of Konoha had fallen more after seeing other parts of it with her own eyes.

Naruto sighed as he shook his head his gaze travelled towards Konoha's walls. "People are crazy for believing that these walls will protect us forever. Even though the walls have been intact for the past sixty years, there's nothing that can guarantee they won't be broken down one day."

Tenten nodded looking towards the walls as well.

Naruto gently caught one of her hands. "I want to see and understand the world outside. I don't want to die inside these walls without knowing what's out there! I want to see the real mountain peaks out there, the lakes, the snow, and the vast deserts." He grit his teeth as he squeezed her hand and spoke with conviction in his voice. "No matter what I will see them!"

Tenten smiled at him nodded, looking up at the sky wanting to get a view of the stars, she wanted to be remembered in the history books, now though after hearing all of the other legendary figures that existed and seeing Konoha's state she wondered what kind of legend she would be know as. Would she be known for her battle prows, her leadership, or perhaps, she placed a hand on the ground, would she be known as the person who pulled Konoha back from the edge.

The kages, while strong were more known in their own countries and villages; only a few ever achieved world wide recognition, and then those were of immense strength and talent. _Is battle really the only why to gain recognition?_ No she knew that, but it was much easier that way, even the civilian knew a few things about the strongest shinobi that had walked the nations_. Either way I'll need to get a lot stronger, and then I'll carve my name into the history on the Elemental Nation no matter how hard it may be and what may come against me. _

"Sister?" He placed his hands over his mouth after he said that, they had gotten closer over the past few months but family was still a sensitive subject to her.

She smiled and gently touched her head to his. "It's alright little brother, I was just thinking about something."

Naruto smiled back. "Don't try to hard now I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."

"I won't" she stopped she realized what he had said. "Oh really little brother?" She grabbed him in a head lock and her smile grew wider. "Prepare yourself!" A moment later her fist began to grind against his head.

* * *

><p>Naruto let out a relieved breath as he sent his package, <em>the bank is already taken care of and now I only have to wait for a reply. <em>With the foundations laid by Katsue he had been able to learn the henge from Yukimura who had found the instructions for it amongst the academy notes, alongside the other two academy jutsu. His mastery of it and the discovery that it was far superior then what it was supposed to be had been a recent thing, practicing the technique every time while in the god realm had certainly helped the processes along.

With the solid henge under his grasp he had managed to get his hands on the addresses of a few publishing companies that where located in the country and hand sent them a few manuscripts from books that Yukimura was sure that didn't exist in the world.

Using the money he already had and procured from other places he had set up a bank account and rented a small mail box to await a reply.

_While they might accept and it would help solve some of the money issues the problem is when they will want to meet the author_. _I can talk to them in Konoha but traveling to other cities will be an issue, if my absence from the village is discovered it would spell disaster for me. _

_I can play the reclusive author angle for one persona and the poor peasant from a small village for the other, even sister can help with this if her henge is a good as mine. Worst case scenario I abandon this plan or Yukimura has to squeeze out a small part of himself and take up the role of the author. _

_Still with my seal and the connection to the god realm its still up in the air if that is good idea and that it wouldn't end up doing more damage. Well I'll deal with it when the time comes._

* * *

><p>Shinga smiled as he looked down on the corpses of the fallen bandits that laid at his feet, he realized that it had been a good idea to test his new creation outside of Konoha's prying eyes, the increased bandit activity near the border with the lower countries had been a god send to him.<p>

The moon light revealed his appearance, he had long grey hair that was very spiky, it was especially spiked up on the front top part of his head, he wore bandages around both of his arms and legs.

_Orochimaru was a fool to experiment on the loyal people of Konoha, as much as I may respect him as a fellow scientist, the man simply didn't know how to handle the Hokage, far better is to experiment a bit further away from view and on the scum of society. Besides my creation the Jibukugan is far superior to anything he had ever created, this new technique has the potential for untold power._ He smirked_. It is only to well that I am the only who knows how to control it. _

Using the technique he could bring out the victim's negative or hateful emotions within their subconscious and use them to his advantage. While a few seemed to burn out from it, he kicked the corpses of the bandits; a few of the stronger ones lasted longer. _The best part is the Jibakugan is stronger than hypnosis and irresistible, the ability to steal chakra from others is a dream come true. The abilities granted from the__Jibakugan__could be compared to those of the fabled jinjuriki, even if our own is nothing but a failure in that regard_. _The technique can help turn the tide of battles in our favor and beyond that._

Shinga looked up at the night sky towards the moon. _And yet even with all of this power I feel that there is more to it still, that the Jibakugan still has more potential waiting to be tapped, more power not yet unleashed. Perhaps I could even drain chakra from the land and give it to its master, such power would aid in toppling the other hidden villages. If planted near a hidden village and if it managed to absorb the chakra from there. _A mad expression graced his face._ I could achieve immortality and gain infinite chakra._ He chuckled._ In the end I will gain much more then you Orochimaru and I won't have to become a missing nin and cross the line of madness that you have gone far past, glory and power await in the distance to be seized._

* * *

><p>"Alright and with that makes seven."<p>

Naruto and Tenten slumped on his bed; the two of them had just finished making the last batch of both kompot and jam. The small apartment building was a mess, filled with dirty pots and pans, packages of sugar that they had used as well as bits and pieces of the fruits used in the processes. The jars would be placed in the kitchen cupboards and a very few under Naruto's bed, the two of them had been gathering the different fruits and vegetables that Naruto had taken care of during the spring and summer and they were now storing them in the apartment building, there were a few things left to do before the winter arrived in full force.

Tenten let out an exhausted breath. "It's a good thing we got the rose syrup done at the beginning of summer."

"Yep" _Heh I knew I did the right thing when I bought those roses in January_.

Tenten ran a hand over her forehead to remove the sweat. "Will you sell some of them in the winter?"

"Yes, either to the caravans or the shops here, we'll need to look over what it cost to make them before deciding on a price."

She nodded. "Considering we don't have that many of them we'll have to be careful."

He hummed in agreement and looked up towards the ceiling. "Do you think you can spend the night?"

She answered in a teasing tone. "Ahh, is little brother scared of the dark?"

Naruto had a deadpan expression on his face when he looked at her. "Um no I just need someone to help me cut my hair."

"Nooo!" she grabbed Naruto's head running her hands through his hair "it's so fluffy!"

Naruto pouted and tried to get out of her hold. "It's not fluffy, it's cool and manly."

* * *

><p>A man with a diamond shaped face, full meaty lips, a long nose, dark green eyes and shoulder-length muddy brown hair sat down on his bead, he wore a dark brown suit with dark cloak, a dark belt with a silver buckle and dark brown boots. The room had grey walls with the pain chipping and the wooden furniture had a grey tint to it as well, being from around time of the second great shinobi war.<p>

The man massaged his own temples the weight of days event plagued his mind. _After so much time searching, we've finally found the Box of Ultimate Bliss, the very same thing that will help us restore Kusagakure to its rightful greatness. _

Both he and his wife had searched for the box that once allowed Kusagakure to take over the world in the long forgotten past_. No it was chosen to be forgotten by the rest of the world to hide their shame, it was said that not eve the Sage of Six Paths could match the power of the box. _

It was thought that the box would be able to grant the person that opens it any wish, but it required an immense amount of chakra to open. Already a list of people with large chakra reserves was being made, and even children whose reserves were large and could in the future grow even larger. Here he couldn't help but scowl, his own son had good reserves for one so young and in time his reserves could make him a truly strong shinobi, one that could bring glory to Kusagakure.

_But what good would that do, Kusagakure is still a small village compared to the great ones as is our country; it has grown corrupt with the passage of time. The council members and I have our work cut out for us if we want to stir it back on the right path. _

He looked at a picture of him and his departed wife touching her picture with his hand, _I'm sorry my love I don't think I'm strong enough to sacrifice our son, you were the strong one._ _Perhaps if we don't find someone in Kusagakure we can attempt to capture a jinjuriki or a person with large chakra reserves, knowing you're son he may end up volunteering to open the box. _

He hesitated for a moment. _I will stand by him if he chooses such a thing; either way I will train him as best as I can beloved. My career is advancing and the rank of jounin is not far from my grasp._ The man closed his eyes and hoped sleep would overtake him quickly and grant him respite from the problems of the world.

* * *

><p>Both Naruto and Tenten looked out the window at the clear night sky; they where sitting on Naruto's bed and were wrapped in a blanket drinking hot tea.<p>

Naruto took a sip of his tea. "It's almost time."

"Yes." The New Year was only two weeks away and they would both start the academy next year. Tenten smiled as she snuggled closer to Naruto who was wearing the sweater she had gotten him for his birthday, a few shopkeepers still held a grudge against him which made cloths shopping more difficult; she on the other hand had a much easier time buying cloths for him.

She had loved the look of wonder on his face when he saw that she had gotten him a birthday present, it had taken a while to save up money from some of the jobs done around Konoha as she didn't want to use his own money for it. Even if it was past it, they had celebrated her birthday as well a short while after she had joined them, Naruto had taken her sledding with the occasion. Though she couldn't see it she knew the he had a grin on his face when they went over the edge of the mountain because of her panicked look.

"Things are going to get a lot more hectic from now on."

She could tell that he was nervous, perhaps even afraid. _A lot of plans to set into motion and things to deal with._ Dealing with the people at the academy, meeting the Hokage, who by now must have known that she had gotten close to Naruto but had not mentioned it yet, herself moving in with Naruto and making sure the Hokage didn't do anything about it. She grabbed his hand and squeezed. "It doesn't matter come what may come we'll face them together brother."

Naruto smiled looking at her. "You're right sister, it's not like anything is going to happen anytime soon."

She furrowed her eyebrows looking at him. "You now it's bad luck to say that."

Naruto shrugged before a confident smirk graced his face. "Meh, my good luck can win against that bad luck."

She shook her head smiling at him. "Let's just hope you don't end up regret saying that."

"Our team work is great, if something rear's its head out we kick its ass."

"Heh" She grinned as they toasted their cups together. "Our teamwork has gotten very good in combat situations and out of them."

Naruto smiled. "Yep, what could possibly go wrong?"

* * *

><p>The fire crackled as she placed another log before tightening her fur coat and heading towards the door, the smell of milk and cooked food filled the room.<p>

"Look after your siblings and make sure they don't cause any problems my dear little bun."

Her eldest scrunched his nose and rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms. "Their almost asleep as it is mom; they'll be going to bed any moment now."

Nanao Oka kissed her soon on the forehead and picked up the package from the small wooden table near the door. "I'll be back as soon as I can, remember our sign."

Her son nodded. "Knock three times, and answer that you're the bear from the south."

"Good." Nanao watched her son fidget for a moment.

"May the dragons protect you from He who lives in the ice."

She smiled remembering how that old was said before someone dear ventured out into the cold when danger lurked around. "Don't worry son, it'll be alright."

She pulled the hood of her coat on her head and exited her home, she soon as she stepped outside of her house Nanao felt the cold air cutting into her flesh, in response she pulled the hood of her coat even lower and waited a moment to hear her son closing the door before she began to make her way towards her destination.

Nanao looked at the houses she passed by watching the smoke rise from their chimneys, their small village was nestled near the Ori mountain with the Hanan forest to the west and the great silver lakes to the east.

Their life was far simpler then that of the people living in the large cities of their country, but even those people were in the minority compared to the large number of villages that existed scattered through out the land.

_People can say what they want but the horseradish and caraway of our country is the best in the world. _Even if the amber trade wasn't flowing as before it still had its own small market and people still sought good made from it. They grew and traded their own crops at trade outposts or when the prices weren't good enough they would head towards the costal cities themselves with their merchandise, even if that did rarely happened.

But now it had happened, the trade outposts near them had been thrown into chaos, the few that remained unaffected had already honored the deals they had made and couldn't make other deals. A small part of the people that usually went to trade the goods and would return with other merchandise now came back empty handed and told the rest of them of what had occurred and how the others had left for the costal cities to sell their goods there.

Nanao scowled think about the cause of their troubles. _And all because of some fight amongst the big city dwellers, I've never seen this daimyo of ours and yet with his death everything is thrown into chaos and our lives are disrupted_. She admitted that the daimyo had done something good for their village when he had improved the roads linking it to the trade outposts and the other smaller villages but that had been it.

This was the reason she was out tonight, to visit a neighbor and bring them some milk, _poor Atsushi_, the woman's husband had left with the trade caravans for the costal cities and her father had gone with the other men to the silver lakes to gather more fish. _Tamura is stubborn old man._ She briefly shook her head in disapproval. _Now Atsushi only has her younger brother to help her with the household and her children. _

Nanao tightened the scarf around her neck and mouth, this winter had been far colder then the others that she could remember. The winters in their country were harsh and cattle were essential for their survival, about one half of the cattle were slaughtered before the age of four years, allowing most cows to produce at least one calf and making both meat and milk production possible. Her twin cattle were now a proud seven years old and were used as dairy cattle, _they still have a two or three years left in them._

Meat was after all a seasonal product, and the slaughtering was mainly done at the end of the grazing season. The people had to make careful assessments and decide how many animals could be overwintered, with the strongest and most productive animals being retained and others slaughtered for meat. Pigs were lifesavers for many, they were kept for meat and were usually sent off into the forest to feed on mast, they were an efficient means of recycling food waste and turning it into consumable meat.

Her gaze shifted to a light in the distance not far from the village outskirt, the place were they burned their dead, as they had done since they could remember, _a way to deny He who lives in the ice his desire._ She scowled for a moment. There were many legends of the old enemy and he had many names, the twisted heart of winter and the father of blizzards. The people would burn their dead to make sure he would not come for them, to raise them as his troops and ravage the land.

_Old stories created and told to children to scare them of the winter_, the true reason was that with the land frozen as it was most of the time it was simply to difficult to bury the dead in the ground, shovels had been broken attempting such a feat and good men had died from it as well needing to be burned alongside the recently dead.

For a moment she remembered her grandmother's saying how they had not created the stories, they had simply inherited them from those who came before them, those that walked the snowy paths marking the passages for them. Those who fought alongside the dragons to drive back the creatures spawned of the enemy and created the wall to keep them safe. _Bah_, she continued walking, _old tales that don't mean anything anymore. _

She could see Atsushi's house not far from her, a light could still be seen in the window and smoke poured out the chimney. _Just a bit more and I'll be there and then we can_… her thoughts were interrupted as a loud shriek tour through the village shattering the sleepy atmosphere. A moment later a shout ran out. "TO ARMS, to arms, to…" before it quickly died.

_What's happening?_ She desperately looked around herself as lights in houses quickly appeared, it had been years since their village had been attacked and even then there had been only a few wolfs, almost a decade had passed since men that had been driven out of their own village attacked theirs. Then in the distance she saw something coming down from the Ori mountain, flickers of silver descending down towards the village. _It can't be, those are…_

"Nanao, Nanao answer me!"

She turned around and saw her friend Atsushi who had a large wooded club near one of her legs, the door to her house was opened and Atsushi's brother was in the doorway wielding a small axe.

She looked at the startled woman. "Atsushi?"

"Nanao do you know what's happening?"

"I…" she swallowed heavily, all around her lights were being light in the houses and people were emerging from them wielding what they could, a flicker of silver caught her sight to the right. "It's…" Her eyes widened as a moment later an icy hand grabbed Atsushi's head, the woman's face contorted as the hand began to squeeze blood trailing from her eyes, nose, mouth and forehead where the creature had sunk its claws into it.

She blinked before Atsushi's head popped like a ripe tomato; she briefly managed to raise her hands up to her face and dropped her package as she had her friend's blood and flesh smeared on her face. She didn't know how long it had taken her to clear her eyes to see again, but that time was filled with the terrified cries of her fellow villagers. When she finally opened her eyes she could see that in front of her laid the body of her friend, farther away she saw Atsushi's brother laying face down in the snow at the entrance to their house, a large hole visible in his back from which blood was pouring out.

Nanao cast a look to her right from where the claw had come from, there stood a tall and gaunt creature looking at her; it looked almost human, bathed in the moonlight the creature was of the purest silver she had ever seen, the only part that was dirty was it's right hand as it still had the blood of her friend on it. The creature tilted it's head looking at her, silver eyes borrowing into her soul, a moment later another flash of silver caught her attention this time it was much closer to her, looking down she saw the creature's clawed left hand imbeded inside her chest, the creature pushed it's own hand further in and Nanao felt the cold slowly take her.

As the life drained from her body she tried to think of her children, how her oldest would attempt to protect his siblings, of her husband who had left to visit the trade outposts to see if the situation had stabalized, but as she saw the bright light from the village outskirts another thought plagued her mind_. It doesn't matter if we burn our dead they will kill us all and transform us into them. _Nanao slowly closed her eyes as she fell to her knees, remembering her grandmother's stories. _I hope the dragons are real as well and that they will rise to battle the old enemy like in the legends._

* * *

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Chapter 10 - 12775 words

Completion date 04 VI 2014, publication date, mostly likely 5 IX 2014

- I cut out a few scenes from this chapter to get the ball rolling and progress the story, Tenten's birthday party was amongst the ones that took a blow, you can expect an eventual flashback with that.

- More training with Naruto and Tenten while in the god realm got cut as well, it would have occurred after the battle between the monster forms of Yukimura and Sayaka.

- The chances of Tenten getting adopted dropped a lot after she started hanging out with Naruto while Yukimura did say that in some variations she did get adopted, here she doesn't want that anymore.

- Can anyone tell where I got the ideas for Yukimura and Sayaka's new forms?

- I'm still getting used to writing fight scenes and the large monster ones are even harder to write.

- A better writer could do describing a tornado justice, I personally can't.

- I do regret not having a few more scenes with Katsue added

- I'm failing to capture the thought and speech of small children; With Naruto it's more understandable why he's this way, not so much with Tenten.

- One explanation I came up with as to why Naruto is said to have failed the graduation exams is that he tried to take the exam early on. If the academy lasts five years and they are taught all the jutsu they need to graduate in the third year, Naruto could have actually tried to graduate early on and failed two times before failing a third time with his own generation. If those three jutsu were a requirement to also pass the class then he should have failed when he got to the current generation just as before. Overall I don't think Kishi put too much thought into the matter and just went with magic number three.

- I have to think that the academy three would still take some time to master, yes Naruto is plowing through the material but he isn't Minato to pick things up so quickly, getting the hang of the three should still take a while. The three may sound simple but they are still complex to a degree, think about it, one of them uses illusions to create a false image over the user's body, you still need to practice visualizing that image, holding it and then walking around with it. Another one has you literally changing your place with another item to evade an attack, I'm still not sure how it's done, do they create a chakra whirlwind around the object to switch with? How do they mold their chakra for the basic three? It probably takes some time using your chakra that way. And yes I know that Kakashi was most likely to master them early on, as was Itachi.

- Shingeki no Kyojin quotes present and accounted for.

- What was the building were Gaara killed Dosu? Well here it has a purpose

- What explanation is there for Sasuke leaving through the fucking front gates of Konoha? Maybe they were really undermanned, but holy hell to leave the gates unguarded? How about closing them, or just leaving one person there, it just seems so bad that Kishi probably didn't think about a reasonable explanation for it. I doubt the sound four where stupid enough to try and enter Konoha through the front gate while killing the guard.

- I'm still not sure how Suna and Oto managed to sneak up on Konoha during the exams


	11. Chapter 11 : Year Two part I

**I do not own Naruto****. **

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – normal thoughts  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><em><strong>Listen<strong>_** – biju, higher being thoughts**

**Chapter 11 : Year Two part I**

Tenten calmed herself down and steadied her breath, even if she knew what to expect she still felt nervous to a degree. Her eyes traveled to the people around her, there were children mostly her own physical age, very few were a year younger or older, some with parents there smiling at them, talking and joking. Her fists tightened as she lowered her head, she briefly felt a hand on each of her shoulders squeezing in an encouraging manner, she smiled knowing the feeling and who they were, even if they weren't there in the flesh Yukimura and Sayaka had found a way to be there for her for a brief moment.

Tenten unclenched her fists, she rubbed her eyes and raised her head looking back towards the people there, her eyes lingered for a few moments on a group as she spotted a few of the children from the orphanage. She shook her head before her eyes trailed of towards the other children present there, she raised an eyebrow at some of them, one of the children there, a boy with brown hair had an even weirder hair style then her brother, it was spiked on the lower end towards his neck on one side and on the other side formed and even bigger spike.

She looked towards someone else. _Does that guy have blue hair?_ She looked closer at the boy_. He does!_ _There really are all kinds of hair color. _Her eyes moved to small boy a few feet in front of the blue haired boy. _Why is that kid wearing an orange shirt? Wow his hair is almost as spiky as brothers, his bangs aren't as big but they are definitely spiky_.

Tenten looked at her brother who noticing her gaze gave her an encouraging smile before turning his head towards the teachers and from what she spotted the girl in front of him. She decided to take a closer looked at the girl in front of him, the girl had lightly tanned skin, short orange hair, Tenten stopped as if unable to understand what she was seeing before she shook her head moment later to recover. _There really are all kinds of hair colors out there, first blue then orange, what's next pink and green? Ha like that would ever happen._

The girl was looking around as well and Tenten saw that she had beautiful maroon colored eyes, a yellow shirt, Tenten cringed at that, _not stealthy at all_, red gloves, blue pants and a blue cap. _Well perhaps the cap is supposed to act like a helmet, I'll have to ask about that in the future._

Tenten looked farther behind Naruto and her eyes widened at what she saw, Tenten took a second look at the person and then a third one, _is that girl wearing all pink clothing? Damn it brother this is like that time when you mixed up those mushrooms_. She rubbed her eyes before looking again, _she really is wearing pink clothing, I'm not sure what to make of that, is she some kind of genius and is making the people doubt her skills by wearing something like that or does she just like the color pink? Best to keep an eye on her for the future. _

She shifted her focus back to the teachers, the head master had finished his speech and now the teachers were calling each student to their designated classroom. Tenten noticed a stone faced Katsue amongst the teachers, she narrowed her eyebrows in confusion, she knew that the woman already had a class, seeing her amongst the teachers that would take a new one was odd.

While she didn't fully trust the woman she had started to like her and even if her brother didn't say it outright she knew that he liked her as well, a bond had formed between the three of them; their meetings had helped, the one after New Year's Eve especially. The woman had taught her a few things and even if she knew most of those things from Yukimura and Sayaka she was still grateful to Katsue for teaching her. A small voice at the back of her mind still whispered that the woman must have an ulterior reason for doing such a thing and that she should keep her guard up.

Katsue's voice rang out. "Tenten Sanada."

Tenten smiled at hearing her full name and began making her way towards the gathering of students that represented her future class_. Is my other teacher sick and she decided to fill in for that person or did she actually decide to abandon her old class_, she briefly tightened her fists, _and take a new one?_

She decided to ask about the matter later when they were both back home, as her group began making it's way into the academy she looked towards her brother whose group was still forming, he was standing a few feet away from the group. Her fists clenched again even if she knew the plan and that Naruto was in agreement with it she still didn't like it, at the very least from what she could see his group didn't have any children from the orphanage and the teachers didn't look at her brother with hatred, in fact they seemed to ignore him.

As she walked into the academy and towards her classroom the memory of how she got her name and the plan Naruto had came rushing back to her.

Flashback

After finishing a training session and changing cloths both Naruto and Tenten went to the living room where Yukimura and Sayaka were waiting for them. After they each took a seat Yukimura approached the matter of the academy. "You probably figured out what this is about."

Naruto nodded. "The plans for the upcoming academy year."

Yukimura nodded.

"You have been asking about the matter Naruto-kun and we know you have your own ideas."

She looked at them confused. "What's going to happen? Aren't we going graduate from the academy?"

Naruto shook his head. "I'm going to have to fail this year as well."

She all but jumped out her chair hearing that. "What? But why? We could be on the same team if we both graduate!"

Yukimura let out a long sigh. "That is correct, and we considered that as well, however think about how Naruto was treated last time when he was at the academy, the chances of it repeating this year exist as well."

She bit her lip at that, she had heard about how he had been treated and had seen the test papers he had saved from last year to show how harshly he had been graded compared to others, it was one of the main reasons she still didn't trust Katsue.

Sayaka sent her an understanding look. "Likewise given Naruto-kun's situation it would be for the best if he managed to befriend the clan heirs that will most likely enroll in the next academy cycle."

She could see the point of that, given his condition having friends in high places could make his life easier in the future. "I guess I can see why but..."

"We did consider asking you to do something similar and for the both of you to be in the same year and with your skills eventually in the same class."

She narrowed her eyes at the two. "So why didn't you then?"

"While Naruto-kun can be allowed to enroll in the academy again if he flunks out, the chances of you managing the same thing are sadly much lower."

_Of course, the village would still want their weapon to get another chance by they wouldn't care about a nameless orphan_.

Sayaka sent her a sad smile. "I take it you are getting close to understanding the reason for it?"

She nodded.

"Fabricating a reason for you to repeat the academy year also has its challenges, with Naruto we have already established a person that we can use, with you it would be more difficult. Faking and injury or a sickness has its own risks as well and could be easily discovered. Once Naruto befriends the clan heirs you will naturally meet them as well, likewise it would be best for you to keep and eye on your future colleagues and their potential, all the while gauging their reactions to Naruto."

She nodded again.

"So I'll just have to reach a good point academically and then fail like last time then?"

Yukimura nodded. "Unless a situation arises to change that yes, keep in mind that Katsue may question your choice and investigate the matter."

"Uh" a bit of disgust crept into his voice "great I have to deal with dear sensei as well, it shouldn't be too difficult."

Sayaka smile turned into that of a predator as she looked at Naruto. "You certainly didn't mind when she played the guitar for you and brought you back in her arms because you fell asleep there."

Naruto blushed and looked away, both Yukimura and Sayaka laughed at his reaction with Yukimura sending a wink to her as she was trying to hide her own giggles before she remembered an issue she wanted to address and looked towards Yukimura. "I wanted to ask about the last name on the registration form."

He sent her a quizzical look. "What about it?"

She fiddled in the chair for a moment and took a deep breath before speaking again. "Well I wanted to ask if I could one day take Naruto's last name as my own?"

Both Sayaka and Yukimura looked surprised for once.

Naruto on the other hand had a huge smiled on his face. "I'd like that, it would be awesome!"

Yukimura coughed and attracted their attention. "The problem is that making such a connection at this point isn't feasible and you may end up paying more because of it."

Both of she and Naruto lowered their head in unison. "Oh."

Yukimura rubbed his chin in a thoughtful manner before speaking again. "Still if you want a last name there's nothing wrong with that and we do have one in mind for you."

She felt her heart skip a beat. "You do?"

"Hm, yes, I bore the name a long time ago," he smiled at her "I think it would fit you well. Sanada."

"Sanada" the name seemed to roll of the tongue. "I love it!"

Sayaka smiled at her.

She didn't notice the look of sadness that passed over Naruto's face as he fidgeted in his chair. "Ano, can I take the name up as well in future?" The three turned to look at him, Naruto seemed to flinch and then rubbed the back of his head before continuing. "Well I would want us to share to last name to make it official that are siblings, and I don't really care about the Uzumaki name, I don't even know who gave it to name."

She turned towards the two. "Can we?"

Yukimura and Sayaka seemed to carry an entire conversation with the look they shared, before Yukimura responded. "We don't see a problem with it later on when you're both older."

Even if it was a small victory she went and hugged her brother, taking note at how strong his grip was. As they broke the hug a stray thought crossed her mind. "Won't that cause problems with your stated goal of creating a new clan?"

Naruto nodded and rubbed his chin in a similar manner to Yukimura before a goofy smile was plastered on his face. "Well I never said it would be Uzumaki clan now did I? I can lie and say that you are the first clan member or that I still want to create the clan just with a different name."

"Now that this matter is dealt with we can move onto the other matters related to the academy."

"What am I supposed to do while she's at the academy? When I bail out again I'm going to have a lot of free time on my hands."

Yukimura shrugged his shoulders. "Enjoy life."

Sayaka gave Naruto a smile that made them both shiver, she knew that smile it was the same one they would receive before some new insane training. The most recent one was where she had her arms and legs tied with rope and thrown into a large pool of water, Sayaka mentioned how the pool was filled with large snakes right before throwing her inside. "We will find something for you to do Naruto-kun have no fear."

Flashback end.

Tenten felt another shiver run down her spine when she remembered that smile that Sayaka gave her brother, she felt sorry for him, well almost he did bring it upon himself.

Once the group entered the classroom each member began to take a seat, she stopped briefly towards the middle of the classroom and took in her future classmates, one of Yukimura's teaching reverberated through her mind.

_The warrior is born with his goals and strategy to achieve those goals, now one must study their surroundings. On the one hand one wishes to understand the rules of society that have appeared to them as laws for so long. To understand this, you must first realize that social interaction is a game and not a reality. We were or are all young; we know that every school class has the greatest boy and the prettiest girl, we notice the hierarchy of this, we are forced to take our place as dictated by the group, depending on how well we befit their demands of a certain physical appearance and a certain social behavior concerning a striving towards given goals._

_We watch the hierarchy of girls, ruled by looks, by being the girlfriend of a certain guy with a certain rank in the social subculture. How much money she has, what kind of clothing she wares. But when you listen to what they speak of, you will notice that they talk about all kinds of topics, but never does anyone ask: Who are we? What is there to know? What exists behind that which we perceive as reality? Not only to achieve power to control our surroundings and to change our stand in this subculture, but especially to search for knowledge in the plain desire of wishing to know and to understand._

_When we look at the boys, it is usually the one with the strongest muscles or the best looks rules. Usually they make rank by behaving stupidly in class, by having a good looking girlfriend, by bragging of their of so great accomplishments, by carrying on about how they are going to "get" someone for something. But do they ever speak of true values? Of honor, of having real principles that don't change as soon as someone decides that something new is now cool? Do they ever appear as if they would die for something they truly believe…We all know the answer. And this is the reality we are caught in._

_Where the mass suffers on account of pseudo rule making, we see no way to change these things for we perceive it as reality. Yet that is a mistake. A true warrior must look into the face of truth. One must look at themselves and decide why one has the ranking they do. One must decide what they desire, and must find out how to achieve this with the subtlety of a mastermind. And here begins the study of our society. What rules exist, what happens if I do this? Which reaction will result from it? What interactions exist? What rules? And then you begin to construct your theories on this subculture._

_Be hard to yourself, be ruthless towards yourself, be mindful, and always seek the face of truth no matter how uncomfortable it is. For this is the path of the strong. When the warrior has built and tested their theories, when one has reconstructed and tuned them, will one have an instrument of mundane power. And with this power can one achieve the social peace needed to turn towards other studies. But always keep in mind, that mundane power is the first of armor. It is the offensive part of the mask you carry towards the countenance of the world. And all weapons are to be collected, sharpened, and used when it helps you to achieve your goal._

_When examining a certain sheep, you will notice the mask that they carry around with them. The mask is what a human wishes another human to see. It is to secure our privacy and to make sure that no one comes closer to you than you would prefer at any moment. It is to hide the fear of the sheep. And the sheep carry these masks towards the inside, meaning that they hardly ever have knowledge of it. Granted, they know to a slight degree if they are making small talk or if they are talking about something truly important to them. Yet, the mask is also what protects them from thinking about mystical aspects, what protects them against feeling afraid. It is what would make them not believe you if you told them you had mystical power or knowledge. And it is what holds them a spiritual prisoner. It is what allows or forces them to live their little lives and to never think of anything truly greater than themselves._

_The warrior, by aiming towards self recognition and balance, destroys this inner mask. One frees themselves from it allowing one to perceive reality on a broader scale. Yet there is one aspect of the mask that shows value. The aspect of hiding that which is behind it. A warrior caries an outward mask, meaning that he, in full recognition of the functionality of a mask, tunes his behavior towards outsiders that have no right to his personal thoughts. _

_It is the acting in everyday life to allow the sheep to believe that you are one of them, for the truth would make the heard nervous and cause aggression against you. And while the sheep are weak, there are many of them. The greater your understanding of society, the better your acting will be. The more perfect your mask is the easier can you implement your will under the usage of your understanding of society; until you easily fit into any subculture, leading the sheep to fulfill your desires._

_Together they meld to the armor of the warrior; to hold off all that is unappreciated and to help shield him from his opponents. _

_Man has seen a millennium of religion and belief, decorating civilization during his evolution throughout the halls of time. What is true? What is false? What exists within the universe and what is merely an illusion constructed by our own fears of insignificance? Gods have appeared and faded throughout the balance of mystical belief and the epoch of physics. _

_Yet when we are alone and when we gaze towards the sky we feel a slight breeze chill our soul at the indescribable premonition of there being more to the universe as can simply be described by the cold vacuum of mathematics and geometry. And while we know of the attempt of man's logical tools to describe a past of phenomena, we all realize as an absolute truth, that these tools lack the dimension needed to truly grasp the rules behind the mist._

_As our ancestors, so do we strive towards the mystical heritage of man and search the depth of our souls for the answers that will lead us to understanding, freedom, strength, power and enlightenment. We have come to recognize that different paths can lead to the same goal. Each of these paths shows advantages and disadvantages, but none is greater than the other on an objective scale of thought. _

_What allows us to decide for one of the three defined paths of Light, Darkness, and the Shadows, lies in the substance of our ghost and soul. It is the aspect of self that decides on a subjective scale of view, which path to choose. We are all the same, yet we are different. And thus the first step to hearing the whispers of the universe lies within our capability to hear the whispering of our own souls._

_We are born as children. Children are given a set of moral and ethical views with which they are to view their surrounding. These views are the sum of experiences of our race and are given to use to be able to interact with our society. The important detail is to see these views as a guideline but not as an absolute truth. _

_Many of our parents have taught us views towards society and religion that they no longer believe on account of their personal experience. And yet they teach us what is commonly appreciated as to assure our integration with humanity. The process of life allows us to gather new experiences and thus our views are changed. Yet, the question is to what degree can these views that were given to us be wrong? _

_Assuming that there would be a general right and wrong to a view or truth. As for an example, I am sure that there are many people who would easily describe our community as flawed by misconception. Yet if the person working at your local bank sees your views as wrong, would you be inclined to regret and refocus your perspective? Probably not._

_Yet man has taken a course of logic and neglected his focus on the mystical. He has turned away from intuition and instincts and decided to use his mathematical tools to understand his environment. Thus alone our presence shows us to have strayed away from a common view of the universe. And this is the first obstacle on the path of self balance. The bank employee does not impress you to reconsider your path, yet what if it was a friend? What if it was your partner? What if most of your friends cling to their predefined view of reality? What if almost all mankind does so? _

_We have all made the experience that we lack the ability to broadly communicate with our surroundings on this matter. Most people don't believe in an alternative view, since it is much easier for them to cope with their fears when they believe to have a maximum of control over their environment. To belief in the mystical means to add new variables. It means to admit‚ in the end, "I know less than I dreamed to know." And this frightens man. And thus they will not consider this aspect of possibility, since it would make them feel more insecure than before. _

_This is the reason they will explain to you why you should see things the way they do, for it will reassure their views to be stated as "correct." while you were simply "wrong." A wanderer on the path of enlightenment, determined to go an uncertain path bearing an uncertain reward must decide in favor of his courage and serenity when following his path. Lest he only follow the desire for additional knowledge, but decline the price to be paid. _

_Most_ _people who hesitate in the moment of mystical consideration stop at this point. They decide that the price of spiritual loneliness, of misunderstanding when interacting with their surroundings is too much to bear. It allows their fear and insecurity to rise and at this point, the person unconsciously decides if he is of the sheep or of the wolf._

_The sheep have an easy life. They exist on a field of grass and live together in herds. They might wander a mile in one direction or the other, yet they are contempt at having one another and only secondarily discovering their surroundings. Thus being the price for the security of a community. On the other side we recognize the wolf in this example. I will speak of the first wolf to understand his own existence as to befit my example._

_The wolf is born of a different substance. The wolf feels his urge to wander and so he passes through the land, discovering his environment and searching for others of his kind. The wolf wanders to the top of a hill and sees a herd of sheep in the valley. He gazes towards the sheep, noticing how they live in herds and watches them move. He sees how they wander a mile in one direction or the other and how they eat the grass, always looking down and only seldom gazing towards each other and thus understands their nature. _

_He decides that they are something different and wanders closer to investigate them further. After slowly moving closer, he hesitates once more. For he sees the heard near a pond. He is unsure if it was merely a light reflection, yet he believes to have seen something strange. He recognizes another wolf within the depth of the heard. Slightly confused, yet glad to see a member of his kind he wanders over to the wolf. The sheep grow restless as the wolf comes closer and the heard opens to reveal the second wolf. The first wolf walks up to the second and watches the second with his tail between his legs eat the grass as do the sheep._

_"Greetings, brother." speaks the first of wolves._

_The second gazes up, slightly confused and takes a step back, noticing that a wolf has neared him._

_"Why do you step back from me, brother?" asks the first of wolves._

_The second wolf looks slightly confused and speaks, "Why do you call me brother, wolf? I am not like you; I am a sheep like the others."_

_The first of wolves, with his tail high grows further in his confusion, "What do you mean, brother? You are a wolf. How can you think to be of the sheep?"_

_"I was born within the heard, wolf. I have always been a sheep, as my parents before me," speaks the cowardly wolf._

_The first of wolves ponders the situation and his gaze wanders towards the pond, "Look into the water, brother. Then you will see that you are of my kind and not of the sheep."_

_The second lowers his head again to continue his meal of grass, "I do not need to look into the water, for I would only see my reflection. The same face I see in the sheep around me. I do not need to look. I am of the sheep."_

_"And what of the grass you eat, brother? Wouldn't a sheep be more to your liking?" says the first wolf in vain._

_The second gazes towards him in fear and speaks with a quavering voice "No," he lied, "I have always eaten grass and I know no other. To desire a sheep is against the law."_

_The first of wolves watches the second as he nervously looks around. The other sheep are seemingly oblivious to what matters are being discussed here. "Yet you have considered eating one of the sheep, haven't you?" spoke the first._

_The second dropped his tail further with a look of great guilt on his soul, "No, I would never think such a thing. And it would be appreciated if you leave us, for you are making the heard nervous."_

_The first of wolves is engulfed by a silent moment of loneliness. Knowing that he is not of the sheep and has no heard. And knowing that his brother is also not of his kind. The first of wolves slowly turns, leaving his brother behind, hearing the second of wolves trying himself in a accord of bah. The other sheep acknowledge this sound, yet the first of wolves knows, that the second can not communicate with them, no matter how hard he tries._

_Only the wolf that acknowledges his existence can understand the self. Lest he be blinded by his surroundings._

_The shinobi have deluded themselves and believe that the use of chakra means to be the wolf, or rather, to be born with a magical gift allowing this interaction. A man without this gift can study chakra, as he can study any human knowledge. He can argue within the boundaries of logic, but he is excluded from the true depth of understanding. While many have the theoretical potential use chakra not all succeed in getting past the initial training, finding a truly gifted person is rare. _

_Yet, those of the wolf that have the courage and serenity to face the truth of their existence are even rarer. Those between are born with a gift allowing them to feel different; to view differently towards their surroundings, and to know within the depth of their person that there is a truth behind the view of mystics. Yet they lack the courage to pay the price of serenity and therefore live with the sheep. These loses can be traced to the given moral and ethical views of our surroundings during childhood from our parents and given to us by our surroundings themselves. Thus a seeker must battle victorious against his own fear to follow the path of truth, regardless of the personal aspect._

_When this first step has been taken and the warrior has cut the thread between himself and others, can they commence to study themselves as the greatest potential for understanding they have at that time. They must now start to remove all the clamps chaining their body and must rediscover what they truly and personally believe. Some views will be kept, for the view they were taught and the view they believe are identical. Yet many people will discover that what they are truly inclined to believe differs greatly from what society expects them to see, to believe, and to feel._

_Many people, while discovering their souls, instincts, and emotions, come to realize that they are darker than they had admitted towards themselves up this point. There is a desire to enjoy. There is an enjoyment in things shunned by society and unmoral behavior. There is a desire to raise the self before others. There is a lust for revenge. A hatred towards those of the sheep who trap our brothers and sisters and who rule our world, in which they state there is no place for us. _

_There is the wish for conflict. To prove those who are weak and commend those who are strong. And then we ponder over these inner desires, if this is what we are, in a viewed moment of truth. Is this not the path we should follow? Granted, that we must control our desires for every society has its ways of punishing those who think differently. We must be mindful, for the farther we wander off from what this society would consider "normal," the greater the chance of being discovered will be. _

_To be discovered might only mean to lose your influence over your surrounding. To be discovered might also mean to be corrected under the usage of government power. At the beginning of this path should an apprentice warrior learn to hide this mental metamorphosis behind a mask of normality. You may feel free to test otherwise, but you will quickly note that you only harvest disadvantages from it. Try to be as you were before you made your first step towards others. Yet your thoughts are free and your own. With no one given any right to punish you for them._

_Thus, the warrior turns away from society, one no longer cares if one is wearing the correct clothing or likes the same things as his friends or as he is pressured to. While discovering the self, the warrior notices the growing desire for power and knowledge. And based on these reasons for revenge, lust for power or on account of what they see when they gaze into their soul. _

_First we will gaze towards the warrior, the heart and the soul of this divine will. The warrior must face every truth, must gaze into the depth of the self and discover who they are. They must do this to achieve a balance of self. If there is no balance there is no knowledge and no power. Do not try to be what you are not, be what you are, and be it gladly. Stand before humanity and proclaim your might before them._

_Proclaim your serenity and dive into the Dark waters of emotion. Scan the depth of your Darkness and allow it to flow through you. Never underestimate an opponent, no matter how simple he appears. To underestimate an opponent is a strategic failure and can not be tolerated. See yourself as your central weapon. Sharpen your mind and fill it with knowledge to aid you in your battle. Study strategy and tactics. Ponder over the phrases and elaborate on the scriptures of other great warriors, consider what they say you should do and what you do in everyday life. _

_Find your mistakes and correct your views. Be ruthless towards yourself. This is the first of enemies: the mortal flesh and spirit. Mortals are weak; they quickly suffice when they have done half the job. Throw off the chains of imperfection and demand the ultimate functionality of every theory and construct; of every idea and strategy. Work on yourself until you have done all that you can at this time and then turn towards the world._

Tenten looked towards her classmates one final time before going to take a seat at a nearby desk, she had already found the prettiest girl in her class as well as what looked like the most popular boy, she smiled. _Let the games begin!_

* * *

><p>The perfect word to describe how Naruto felt would be bored, he was sitting in class going through the same routine as last time albeit this time his teachers didn't mock his dreams when he had stated them and they only appeared to ignore him for the most part.<p>

His new class seemed to be free of so called tuff guys from what he could see, tough it was still early for that, related his classmates, they looked much more promising than the last bunch, a lot more had from what he observed a shinobi relative in some form or another. Though none were clan children, he had at least seen a Hyuuga clan member in another class; he resolved to keep an eye on him while he still attended the academy.

Which brought him back to the matter at hand, he was bored, he knew that Yukimura and Sayaka had plans made for the year but he himself hadn't that many to keep busy, Tenten would have the academy, even Katsue would be more busy then before, that left him with little to do, there was only so much one could tend to their garden in one day.

_I guess I can try making friends outside of the academy, if their worthy enough. _He lowered his head on his arms to the bench, the smell of soap Katsue had given him and his sister for New Year's eve filled his nostrils, he brushed it aside as he looked at his two new teachers._ A part of my own plans have been accomplished with sister meeting the Hokage. _He smiled. _Heh, the old man did catch us by surprise that time, I'll admit that was well played. _He closed his eyes remembering that day.

Both Naruto and Tenten were playing cards to pass the time with the New Year approaching Naruto had gone to the Hokage's office to meet with the man to hopefully give him reassurances of being well and fill up the much dreaded timely meeting with him. Sadly the man had been busy and unable to meet with him, now the two were expecting the Hogake to either drop by Naruto's place or to finally accept meeting him, either way Tenten couldn't stay longer at the apartment as they didn't want her to meet the man yet. Even if he was aware of her presence, they had acted out a theatre performance when Naruto had felt the Hokage watching him with the seals a few times.

Naruto was getting ready to draw another card when a knock at the apartment door drew both of their attention. He sent her a questioning look_. It can't be the Hokage it's too late_.

Tenten bit her lip and shrugged. _You never know._

_Not good, not good at all._ Naruto nodded and got off the bed heading towards the door as the knocking began again. _Please don't be the Hokage, please don't be the Hokage!._ "Who is it?"

The Hokage's warm grandfatherly voice rang out from behind the door. "It's me Naruto-kun."

_Well shit._ He turned his head and could see the flash of panic cross Tenten's face. _Double shit._

His bit his own lip. _Maybe she can hide in the bathroom or under the bed, I can hide her shoes. _

His thoughts were cut short as the Hokage's voice rang out again. "I do hope you and your

little friend aren't up to something bad in there Naruto-kun."

_Well fuck he knows she's here, I guess he sensed us in here or had people watching the building, I didn't feel him use the seals, tsk no choice then._ He nodded towards Tenten who got up and quickly came next to him nodding as well. He reached for the handle and opened the door. _Here goes nothing. _

The Hokage looked mostly like the last time he had seen the man, perhaps with another wrinkle or two on his face, he was wearing the kage hat and the robes, from what he could see the robes looked to be made for colder weather. _Does he wear them even when off duty?_

The man still radiated a grandfatherly aura that made you want to trust in him without bating an eye.

Naruto scratched the back of his head in an embarrassed manner and chuckled. "Hey old man we weren't doing anything bad in here" he lowered his voice, "maybe just a prank or two."

The Hokage laughed and shook his head. "Good evening Naruto-kun" his eyes shifted to Tenten who was close to trembling, "and you little one."

"Hokage-sama!" Tenten bowed her head low placing both palms on her knees.

The Hokage waved his hand. "Now that's enough of that, no need to be so formal."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, see he's nice old man."

Tenten sent Naruto a bewildered look. "You can't talk that way to Hokage-sama, Naru." She grabbed his head and forcibly lowered it. "And bow your head when greeting him."

Naruto struggled a bit under her grip_. Good acting sister_. "Ah that hurts let go."

The Hokage laughed again. "Well your friend certainly has manners Naruto-kun."

"Yeap." He could see the calculating look in the Hokage's eyes, sizing Tenten up, it was far better concealed then Yukimura and Sayaka's who would do the same thing during training, carefully analyzing them.

The Hokage gently padded her on the head while smiling. "Now now my dear, a simple nod is acceptable if you want to be formal, I know Naruto doesn't mean any offence by the way he addresses me."

Tenten nodded keeping her head down. "Hai Hokage-sama."

The Hokage began to slowly move his hands towards Tenten's chin. Naruto froze for a brief moment_. Crap he probably wants to look her in the eyes._ A warning from Sayaka flashed through his mind. _The eyes give away a lot more about the person that one initially assumes. _

Naruto grabbed the Hokage's hand before he could reach Tenten and pulled towards him. "Hey old man why don't come inside? I remember that it's rude to keep someone at the door like this."

Naruto let go of his hand after the Hokage turned his attention towards him, the aged kage smiled. "Ah quite so Naruto-kun."

_Well I may have put out a small fire and now I may have started a blaze_. He cast a look towards Tenten who seemed to have composed herself.

"Well now Naruto-kun I haven't seen in a while so I decided make some time to visit you and with the New Year approaching I thought about inviting you and your friend to ramen to celebrate the occasion as well, my treat of course."

"Really old man? That's great! Come one Ten-chan lets go change cloths!" He grabbed Tenten by an arm and headed towards the cloths drawer where Tenten picked out a few cloths and went to the bathroom to change while Naruto went to the small hall between the bathroom and the rest of the room and changed cloths, the aged kage waited at the entrance of the apartment for the two.

After getting dressed the three made their way towards the ramen stand, during their trip the people they encountered gave the Hokage various forms of acknowledgement, from head nods to bowing, the people spared little glances to him and his sister, a few seemed more interested in figuring out who she was, luckily she kept her head down and had it covered with her hood and scarf. The walk to the stall was spent in mostly silence, occasionally Naruto would ask something of the Hokage and the man would answer in his warm grandfatherly tone.

The warm air inside of ramen stand hit Naruto like a wave once he entered, he unzipped his winter jacket with Tenten following suit. He spotted the owner of the stand Teuchi, the man was wearing the same white cloths as he usually did and had small beads of sweat on his forehead. _Was this rehearsed or is it just from the heat inside of this place?_ He cast another look around and saw that there was none else inside of the shop. _Odd why aren't there any other people here?_

The man smiled and nodded at them. "Ah good evening Hokage-sama, I see you brought Naruto with you as well."

The Hokage nodded in turn and padded Naruto on the head. "Yes, I've brought Naruto-kun and his friend here for a small celebration."

Naruto smiled. "Your treat old man."

The age kage nodded. "Of course."

A moment later Ayame entered the stand from behind her father with a bowl of vegetables in her hands, her long chestnut brown hair seemed to shine in the humid atmosphere inside of the place, she gave the Hokage a courteous bow and handed the bowl to her father before she looked towards him and Tenten. "What's this I hear about Naruto-chan bringing a friend?"

Naruto noticed his sister giving the group a polite bow, carefully staying near him as to hide her face from the Hokage as well as she could. "Good evening mam, mister, my name is Tenten."

Ayame giggled and brought a hand to her mouth. "Wah she's so polite!"

Teuchi smiled as well. "A few could learn from that."

Ayame pouted before responding. "My manners are fine."

"Ano can we eat now? I'm hungry."

The next moments past easily enough with the three of them eating in relative silence with the occasional noise coming from the act that the two put on with Naruto who slurped the ramen down and Tenten elbowing him in the ribs to get him to behave and the amused giggles of the other three people.

It was Ayame who interrupted the relative quite after placing another bowl of ramen in front of him. "So how did you two meet?"

"Ano, we've know each other since I was at the orphanage, but I didn't see her for a while after leaving the place and only met her again in the summer."

Tenten nodded in agreement. "Yep, a while after that Naru-chan asked me to move in with him."

Ayame feigned shock, even if it would have been normally lost on the children their age. "Such a daring move Naruto-chan! But what about your friends at the orphanage?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't really have any there."

Tenten nodded. "There weren't that many there, I still see a few of them when I help out around the market."

"So that was you I saw the last time the trade caravans where here!"

"Hai! Since we live together I try to help Naru-chan with what little money I can make."

Ayame gave her a quizzical look. "Doesn't the orphanage help?"

"It would if I was older and had to leave the place, right now they can't really help with anything."

"Still leaving it behind to move in with Naruto-chan."

"I usually had to sleep with one eye open to make sure some of the kids there didn't try and steal my money when I had any. With Naru I just have to be careful that he doesn't wrap himself in the whole blanket at night."

"I do not!" He pouted "Well maybe a little, from time to time."

"It's so cute how close you two are! You know Naruto-chan you could have brought Tenten to the shop earlier and visited more often."

He rubbed the back of his head in an embarrassed manner. "Yeah, Ten-chan and I have been busy getting ready for the academy."

"Oh, it sounds like someone's excited."

"Yeah, both Ten-chan and I are going to be kick ass shinobi in no time flat."

At this the Hokage seemed to perk up. "Oh so you want to become shinobi as well my dear?"

"Hai!" Tenten cast a quickly look to the Hokage before continued in an excited voice "I want to become someone strong like Toka Senju, Tsunade of the Sannin or Kaede Nagase and Kōsaka Shigure."

Naruto cut in. "Yeah they were awesome especially Kōsaka Shigure and that guy Sakumo Hatake."

The Hokage nodded gently stroking his beard. "Well you've certainly chose good role models, all of them were wonderful shinobi."

Naruto knew the other part of the message that wasn't spoken. _Who all just happen to be from Konoha. _

Ayame pouted. "You know that's no real reasons to not stop by from time to time Naruto-chan."

"Ah, I'm sorry I'll be sure to visit more often from now."

Ayame smiled and nodded.

Naruto turned towards the Hokage. "Hey that reminds me old man, you actually trained that Sannin lady right?"

"Ah Tsunade, yes I did." The Hokage gained a far away look in his eyes. "It was a long time ago."

"What was she like?"

The old kage smiled and his voice carrying more warmth in it then before. "She was head strong even back then as a child, she had a bright mind and a will of iron that I once believed her teammates lacked. It is thanks to her that many people are still alive today and why a few villagers have names based on hers."

Tenten looked at the Hokage. "She sounds amazing!"

The first time Naruto actually thought the Hokage looked his age, usually he had an aura of command around him, now however it was gone and he actually looked his age, more so he appeared to be carrying far to many regrets that weighed heavily on him. "Um old man, where is she? Is she like on some super top secret ninja mission?"

The Hokage's voice became somber. "Life has dealt her many blows and she bears the scars in her own way, whether others agree with it or not."

He tilted his head and looked at him confused. "Huh?"

The Hokage patted him on the head. "Don't worry about it to much, perhaps one day you two will meet her."

The rest of the meal was spent in the same relative silence as before, Naruto noted that the Hokage seemed lost in old memories and hadn't been inclined to talk anymore. Once the meal was done the group left the stand with Naruto promising again to visit the place more often, it wasn't until after their arrival at the apartment that the Hokage spoke again after he pulled out two scrolls from his robes.

"What that old man?"

"Just a small something for the two of you."

He tilted his head. "Um toilet paper?"

"Naru! I'm sure it's great toilet paper if it's from the Hokage!"

The Hokage smiled again and Naruto noticed that he had composed himself again. "It's not toilet paper children, here let me show you." He placed the two scrolls on the floor and opened them revealing the writing on the inside. _Seals!_ "Now pay attention." With a quick move of his hand, and from what they believed was also chakra the seals glowed and a moment later smoke was visible above the scrolls that quickly disappeared and revealed two wrapped boxes.

"Is that a cool ninja trick? Can you teach me? Can you? What are those?"

"These are seals children, only a few ninja learn the art, if you are interested in such learning this art you're going to need a steady hand and a good hand writing, just practice this for now and once you become a shinobi you can talk more. As to these, well they are for you two."

"Like presents?" Naruto asked hopefully.

The Hokage nodded.

Naruto wiped his eyes to feign tears. "Thanks old man."

While Tenten unwrapped her present with care, he personally just digged into it ripping the package open. Inside they found new cloths and supplies that would be need for the new academy year.

"Wha these are great old man! This jacket looks amazing." _And I bet it even has those tracking seals on them as well!_ _With you very gift is edged_

Tenten bowed her head and Naruto seeing her followed suit quickly enough. "Arrigato Hokage-sama." "Yeah thanks old man!"

"It's quite alright children, now I have to be going however I look forward to hearing from the two of you, don't be afraid about interrupting me when you visit, I have time I will gladly receive you."

"Hai!"

_Heh, the old man did play the kind grandfather card very well back then, he showed his soft caring side the way he acted, he showed the respect he commands with how the various people greeted him through out the village and peeked our interests with the seals as ninja tricks. Of course the cloths did have the tracking seals on them, makes the old saying that every gift is edged seem so true. Still if I look at the other side of the coin, the excuse that he is trying to keep me safe could have some ground to stand on. Tsk still the old man has made it clear the he knows that sister is living with me and doesn't appear to have a problem with it, he must have made some plans for her as well._

_At least we managed to score some points with mentioning our new role models; he probably thinks it's a victory for him on that front. Heck I think Raelag is a damn hero compared to someone of the people that Konoha was spewed out. _His thoughts returned briefly to Yukimura and Sayaka who encouraged him to enjoy life after finishing the part of the plan involving the academy. _So they want to start enjoying life huh? Fine. _He smiled_. I'll enjoy it alright; I'll enjoy life until it collapses from exhaustion._

"Pay attention brat."

Naruto looked and noticed a new teacher that had entered the room and had delivered a note of sorts to his teachers; he nodded then gently lowered his head back to the bench. _And you'll be the first I start with! _

* * *

><p>Katsue cursed silently as she made her way back to her apartment, things had not gone as she had hoped, first it was that she hadn't been assigned to Naruto's class and later when she had hoped to meet with the two children and discus their first day at the academy she and others had been called to give character testimony for an old classmate of hers. Katsue shook her head as she gained more speed jumping over rooftops, she hadn't known the man that well and had barely spoken two or three words with him.<p>

She found out that during and undercover mission her old classmate, Tetsunori Endo, and his partner had asked a civilian how the two of them could buy drugs, when the man refused, some sort of struggle occurred and Tetsunori killed the unarmed civilian. The mission was a flop as the city watch had stumbled onto the crime scene and had identified the two shinobi. What many saw as the problem was the fact that the person that Tetsunori murdered was an unarmed teenage civilian and that Tetsunori had blabbed some of the information Konoha had on the person, with him being marked as a drug dealer and involved in other small crimes.

Now Konoha had launched an investigation on the matter, the city in which it occurred had made a fuss over how Konoha had handled the matter, the boy's family wasn't happy about the information about him being released so casually to everyone. Konoha was interested in solving the matter quickly and seeing who to side with, Tetsunori claimed that the boy was being uncooperative; that he appeared to be on drugs and had attacked them first so they only defended themselves and things got out of control from there. The city authorities were more interested in how two fully trained shinobi couldn't subdue one teenager, on drugs as they claimed.

_I heard from the others that Tetsunori had a bit of a temper however it wasn't anything that he couldn't control. Well it's up to the higher ups to decide his fate, given that he blabbed sensitive information on the boy and that he killed someone he should face some_ _consequences. He may yet face jail time or at least suspended be suspended and have to visit a psychiatrist alongside other consequences._

She shivered for a moment. _Well at least things aren't going to involve a meeting with the people from Torture and Interrogation, from what I've heard Orochimaru's former apprentice made quite the impression there. I know her fame's grown as of late, I wonder if she's risen in rank as well? _

Katsue stopped as she landed on the rooftop of the building where her apartment was located; she cast a quick look and noticed how Naruto had added more floor pots to the rooftop_. It's good that now he has free reign to plant these._ She could already imagine how the place would look during spring and summer time, their own little green corner.

_I just need to brag a bite to eat and to change cloths then I can see the two little rascals, perhaps I should make them something as well. _

* * *

><p>Both Naruto and Tenten were sitting at the table eating dinner; they had talked about how their first day at the academy had been.<p>

Tenten looked curiously at her soup as she slowly moved her spoon through it look at its content or rather lack there off. "Um, listen brother. You said this was beef and vegetables soup. Well there's seems to be missing the beef part so you shouldn't call it beef and vegetables now should you?"

Naruto looked at her with a dead pan expression. "Yes, I would actually."

Tenten sent him a small glare. "Well, it's not!"

Naruto let out a long sigh. "It is when you're broke!"

"But we're not broke yet!"

"No, but we've had to make a few cutbacks, we couldn't sell the stuff we made at the trade caravans however we still had to buy more food and I needed money to send out other books after I didn't get a response about the first books sent. On the bright side I do have a plan to help deal with the situation."

Tenten raised an eyebrow and she crossed her hand over her chest. "Does it involve you stealing more things?"

"Um, maybe."

Her next words were cut short as a knock was heard from the door. Naruto smiled and went to open it glad to have been rescued from what would have been a difficult conversation.

* * *

><p>Katsue smiled as Naruto all but glommed her legs after opening the door, the two children appeared too had been having dinner when she arrived, she padded Naruto on the head. As Naruto removed his head from her legs and she got a look at his eyes she couldn't help but think that those blue eyes of him had more depth to them that she had thought, they reminded her of the ocean, it was only a momentary thing however as it quickly disappeared.<p>

"Wha sensei what are you doing here?"

"I came to ask you two how your first day at the academy was and to bring you some dinner." She handed the package with the few sandwiches she had made to Naruto, she noticed how Tenten seemed to brighten at the mention of food, she cast a quick glance at the dinner plates.

_The girl must be happy to eat some solid food rather then soup. _

"Arrigato sensei!" Naruto gave her a small bowed as he said this.

She quirked an eyebrow at his gesture. "Well Tenten has certainly taught you some manners."

Naruto placed the package on the table and after unwrapping it they both began to eat.

"Yeah" he touched his head, "the hard way."

Katsue chuckled when she noticed Tenten smiling and nodding to herself. "It's the only way you'll learn quickly." Naruto pouted in response as he bit into his sandwich, she let them finish the first one before approaching the subject she was interested in.

"Ah yea, the first was great sensei, there so many new people there, and the classroom looks a lot better then our old one!"

Katsue nodded. "Did you have any problems with the new class?"

"Huh? Not really, I didn't get to talk to a lot of them."

Katsue bit her own lip. "Oh, did they ask you about dreams for the future or ambitions?" _After the fiasco of his first time around she hoped that things had gone better the second time around. _

"Yep, they shrugged and moved on with the role call."

She let out a relived breath. "Ah well it happens, don't worry about it."

"Ano, I wanted to ask, are you really one of my new classroom teachers or did you fill in for somebody today?"

"Yes actually I assigned to your class."

She noticed the sharp look Tenten sent her. "Oh, I thought you had Naru's old class."

"No, that class was disbanded" noticing the confused looks she continued, "the classes are shuffled around from time to time, with the students being moved to other classes, in some cases the better students get grouped into a single class, depending on the circumstances a class or two could be disbanded. It happens if a lot of students drop out or fail to pass the year, if there are too few students in one class then the they get moved around to the other existing classes. This is what happened to Naruto's old class."

"How could that happen? You're awesome teacher Katsue-sensei!"

She laughed awkwardly knowing that she hadn't done as much in the beginning. "Well not everyone applies themselves as hard as you do. I had hoped to get assigned to your class, if the two of you were in the same class then it would have teaching you a lot easier."

"Yeah, that would have been awesome!"

"It would have been better if I could have had the opportunity to form our own study group."

Both of them looked at her puzzled. "Huh?"

"Well the with the study group I could have taught you a lot more then usual, at it would have helped to create stronger bonds with some of the other students."

"Can't it still be done?"

It's hard getting it done in one class, involving students from other classes would be even more difficult."

Naruto tilted his head to the side and looked at with wide innocent blue eyes. "Couldn't you still do it with just Ten-chan's class though?"

_Well crap! If I say no then I'll look like the bad guy here, best to try and diffuse this somehow. _"Yes I could try."

"Yata! See."

"However it would cut into the time I would have to teach the both of you, the study group will take up time from my own schedule, adding the fact that I already have a busy one with the academy it would make it much more difficult to train you."

"Ah, that's ok sensei; we already had a lot of training before right? So I should be good to go, and Ten-chan and the others would need it more then me."

_Well he does have a point, he actually made a good argument, he should be able to graduate the first year without any problems if his teachers don't try and sabotage him._ "I'll look into the matter; we'll still need some time to see who's more serious about their studies before we begin."

"Hai sensei" Naruto responded between bites "these are really good."

"Naru don't speak with your mouth full."

"Ha! You did as well."

"Now you have me doing it as well, this just means more training for good manners."

Katsue could help but laugh at the look of horror on Naruto's face. _I have a feeling this year is going to be good. _

* * *

><p>Kaguya looked at the two people in front of her, the first was a girl roughly the same age as her and who has taller then her, she had an inverted triangle face, blue eyes, a small nose and bright red hair that was spiked up. The girl was wearing what looked like a modified grey shinobi outfit that she had seen a few months ago on some of her family's bodyguards. The girls name was Kalen, and she would become her future bodyguard, confidant and constant companion, her origin was that of mixed blood or so she had heard, something about her father being of high rank and her mother a commoner, somehow she had ended up becoming an apprentice to an actual shinobi and would become her eventual bodyguard.<p>

The other person was a woman, her name was Ryosei Miyasaki, she had grey hair a round face, brown eyes and thin lips, she looked to be at most in her early twenties. The woman would be her new acting bodyguard and would train Kalen for the job as well, from what she had been told Ryosei had been trained from a very young age to become a shinobi, however she had not been trained in Konoha rather she had been trained in a temple who's task it was to train such people to become future bodyguards for the daimyo's family, their numbers were kept relatively small which made their use only in case of important situations.

She nodded to the two as they left the room, she wasn't even bothered by the sharp looks Kalen had sent her, she still felt numb on the inside after what had happened. It had been a mistake she knew that much, at the time she had been angry and had run her mouth off, the price was that her friend Kazutoshi was dead now and it was all her fault.

The two had been playing in secret and he had ripped one her dolls while playing, angry and in tears at this she had shouted that she wished he was dead. Her wish had come true as one of the guards had stumbled onto them and seeing the scene had stabbed Kazutoshi through the chest with his spear. The rest seemed a blur to her, she couldn't remember what came after that except for some of her caretakers fussing over her with Urano at the head of the group.

She had hoped that the guard had been punished for what he had done, it didn't happen much to her surprise, the man had actually been commended for his so called noble deed, likewise the Kazutoshi's parents had been sent away from her family's estate because of what had occurred.

This was the reason after all that the two were here, her father had told her how he had gotten her two bodyguards to protect her from the common filth in the future, the two would be loyal to her beyond all measure. It didn't matter that much to her, her first real friend was dead because of her and his killer was still free and unpunished.

* * *

><p>Tenten forced her opponent back with another jab; she raised her left arm and feigned a fist strike to the right side of her opponent, barely reacting the boy raised one arm to guard while preparing to attack with the other one. Everything seemed so slow to her during these practice fights, after fighting higher level opponents her classmates were pale in significance. She smiled and stopped mid attack surprising the boy before she unleashed a round house kick to boy's head throwing him out of the training circle. She made the sign for the end of the fight while the teachers checked over her opponent. As she was leaving she gently uttered two words looking back at the boy. "Road house."<p>

Her class mates gave her a wide berth as she headed towards a tree. _Hah and they called that kid the best of the class even with shinobi parents that wasn't much skill_. She sat down under a tree and began to meditate_. I still have to be careful and pull my punches; I could have broken his neck back there if there had been more force behind it_. Sayaka's word rumbled through her head and she struggled to get her breathing under control. _Through regular meditation one examines their motivations, and are certain that they are not allowing emotion, ignorance, or passion to intrude upon them. Meditation can be used by a person to improve their mindfulness, focus, or patience._

Her thoughts turned to a lesson of Yukimura's concerning emotions.

_To control emotions efficiently you can't try to clamp down on them, you can't try to extinguish them; if you do, you will fail more often than not. You have to try to guide them. Over exertion has often led to problems for me in attempting to control my emotions, as it may have already led you to. _

_Each emotion has its advantages as well as its disadvantages, however it is my opinion that we can better overcome the disadvantages and put the advantages to use for a maximum of benefit, be it for yourself or others. I think mindful awareness of the self is key to productively utilizing one's emotions, and from personal experience I would advise you to gain a decent understanding of yourself before you choose to begin toying with your emotions and passions. _

_To give a few short examples anger, its advantages would constitute increased physical strength, increased mental focus on a specific person, event or feeling and increased self-control. It's disadvantages, if anger is not properly controlled would constitute a sort of tunnel vision, where you become so focused that you only see what you wish to see an not the whole picture, your judgment is clouded, if you believe you have more control over anger than you really do, you will become over-confident, it can lead to poor health when used excessively, you also develop and increased willingness to do things you couldn't otherwise bring yourself to do._

_Another example if fear, if kept in check it can give you a heightened awareness and a burning desire to be safe, for lack of a better word however ff fear is not kept in check it can lead to paranoia loss of focus and to become physically shaky._

_Understand, my short discourse on the pros and cons of these emotions are meant only to illustrate a point, point being that no emotion can be considered a negative emotion. Any and all emotions are positive. The problem is that certain emotions can be perceived as negative if your perception of them is blurred. _

_Remember this above all else a person's emotions are what define him, and control is the hallmark of true strength. To lack feeling is to be dead, but to act on every feeling is to be a child._

She let out a small breath as she opened her eyes she saw Katsue in front of her looking somewhere between upset and worried.

She fidgeted for a moment before biting her lip. "Is he alright?"

"He will be."

None of them said anything for a few moments with Tenten keeping her head down.

"You know what you did wrong?"

She nodded.

"You can't be this aggressive with the rest of your classmates."

_Well this is mingled with the truth, it can sadly for you sensei be used to manipulate as well._ "It's just that I'm afraid that if don't shine enough I won't get into a better class next year, I don't want to get left behind."

A brief look of regret flashed across Katsue's face, her own aggressiveness could also be linked to what Katsue had told them. "Your doing great as it is so don't worry, you just managed to defeat what your classmates thought was the best student of the class with ease so relax. We will work on the other parts later on, just try and be more careful alright?"

She nodded.

"Come on let's go and try to look sad like I just punished you."

_I wonder what brother is doing now that he's started to skip class again._

* * *

><p>Naruto smiled as stuffed more items into his small backpack, the past few months he had taken to enjoying life in his own way. The academy teacher that called him brat got pranked hard, getting painted orange at the academy and need to go home to wash up, becoming a bit of a joke after the incident. Of course he added a bit more by sneaking into the man's home and planted some adult reading material that was a bit more exotic by people's standards, to make things stick he had used the henge to look like the man when he bought the books.<p>

A quick visit to the hospital had him getting back at the nurse who insulted him when he was hospitalized. A gentle mix up of the woman's charts had a man receive an unwanted and unneeded enema.

His latest activity and passion was stealing, and doing it heavily, he would steal food from restaurants, shops and people's homes, as well as money he found lying around the places.

He had stolen other goods as well, rings, circlets and necklaces of gold, silver, copper and a few unique ones with a sapphire and onyx, however those kinds of theft were much rarer, he would place them in a bag and bury them in stashes around Konoha's forests, a few he had actually managed to leave the village and bury them around the forests outside. For his own amusement he had actually planted stolen goods in other people's homes just to see how they would react. He knew he would have to stop before things got more serious however right now this was just his way of having fun.

At the moment he has currently robbing a mail clerk who had given him the stink eye last time he had visited the place even with his henge on. He smiled as he placed a roll of money into his backpack. _Almost done, usually people have another secret place where they hide more things._ He looked around the room again before his eyes fell on the bed; he quickly got down on the floor and slid underneath the bed. _Ha! Found it_. It has a small wooded compartment added to bed, he checked for any possible traps then using some metal wire managed to carefully open it, what the found surprised however.

Naruto looked through the ledger he found in the wooden compartment and help but ask. _What's going here?_ He turned a few more pages of the ledger as he peered through it; he realized that it was written in a code of sort. _Why would a mail clerk have a ledger written in code? _His eyes widened and he closed the ledger. He tapped into Yukimura's magic and used it to have him read the ledger for later, after that he quickly but back the ledger as well as everything he had stolen.

Before leaving he double checked that everything was still in it's place, he had to hurry as he was cutting short as it was, he cast one last look around the place before leaving_. How did I manage to stumble on a spy operation?_

* * *

><p>Both Yukimura and Sayaka were near the portal exiting the god realm, each sitting in a meditative position. Yukimura looked towards Sayaka who nodded and raised her hands that quickly became engulfed in golden flames. "It's time." Her voice was strained; they both knew that the following moments were crucial in helping to shape the events in their favor.<p>

"Everything is in place." Sayaka brought her hands in a circle, the flames spread from them forward reaching the portal leading out of the god realm, the sounds of rattled chains filled the air and the portal became clearer, the other side of it now visible like a clear lake.

He gave her and encouraging smile and winked. "Well then let's go save the life of a future recruit." He brought his hands together and closed his eyes; another Yukimura appeared in front of the original whose body was quickly engulfed in golden flames that spread towards the new one who looked to drink in the flames into his body before they stopped spreading towards him.

A moment later the new Yukimura walked through the portal leaving the other two behind, once outside the godrealm he halted for a small moment feeling the cool air on his skin. The problem with the opening was that it allowed only a small part of himself to exist outside the seal and he was severally limited in his power while being out and about, he needed to create a special avatar to move outside in the real world.

He breathed in the fresh air and smiled before taking of up towards the sky, he looked to be kicking the air as he flew higher and higher, he glanced downwards as Konoha lay sprawled out before him in its entirety. The cold wind blew against his face and in the distance he could spot the light from the fires that interested him. He smiled.

_Ah the real world after so long, after so many years of imprisonment, I wonder what would my old form have done with this freedom?_ He chuckled darkly. _Knowing my old Kurama persona he would have destroyed Konoha in the blink of an eye and never doubt such an action._ He looked at the buildings around the centre of Konoha. _It would be so simple, a bijudama at full power from up high and Konoha would be a crater. _

He sighed. _Perhaps in the future if the corruption of this place passes any level, it hasn't reached the level of any of the Rome's I've seen, though it certainly looks to be walking down the path or ruin._ He shook his head dismissing the thoughts, he had wasted enough time, he took a deep breath then headed towards his destination at full speed.

When Yukimura arrived at his destination he stopped and looked at the ground below him where the fire raged, he could hear a creature's scream coming from the place, he doubted anyone else could hear the screams, he needed to deal with it quickly, the creature's scream could potentially awaken creatures that were best left sleeping, something that he didn't want, Naruto's meeting with Ami was bad enough.

The blazing fire was consuming the compound, the few people there were trying to put out the fire anyway they could. _A few water jutsu would certainly help. _He closed his eyes for a moment feeling the life inside of the place using his magic; they felt like small flames to him, a few people were still alive inside the compound while a majority were dead. He noted how strange a few of the survivors were acting and how not all of the flames had a feeling of magic to them, he knew the flames would spread to engulf the compound and yet now seeing it he realized something was off about the matter. He dismissed it he had come here to save someone and that was what he was going to do, he made his way towards the room that presented an interest for him and the sooner he finished his business here the better.

He passed through the flaming rooms of the compound letting his eyes travel around the place as he passed through it, noting oddities about the bodies and how the flames spread through out the place. Yukimura smiled finally reaching the underground where the room was located; it had an old stone altar in the middle of it with magical seals spread through the place.

A move of his hand banished the flames in the room, he gave the girl's uncle a glance and sent a small flame towards the man's chest that engulfed his body, the man's breathing stabilized, he was still needed for a time, after that the man would pass on, his presence held to much influence that wasn't needed or desired. He noticed two clan's members dead not far from the altar that had horrified looks on their faces, a third member was further away from the uncle and had asphyxiated.

Young Yakumo was sitting on the altar eyes closed and unconscious with the seals covering her body, above her a shadow presence raged as its screams sent shockwaves through the room and beyond it. The girl possessed long brown hair, it was braided in a pony tail at the back, sweat ran down the girl's face, she wore a pink kimono held closed by a pink sash with two pockets on the front, she also wore violet baggy pants and red mesh amour underneath her kimono and legs along with sandals that were orange in color, she wore Yukimura remarked colorful mismatched socks.

Yukimura raised an eyebrow at her choice in colors; _well Naruto may have liked it had we not intervened before_. He looked at the seals and he realized that the seals mingled together contained both chakra seals as well as magic ones, the more he looked at them the more confused he became, the seals looked like they were intentionally made to malfunction, everything looked badly patched together beyond an acceptable degree. _Yakumo's ritual seems destined to fail or perhaps it is rigged to be so? Perhaps it is simply the incompetence of the clan when dealing with such matters._

The ritual was most likely done to aid with the clans abilities, he moved closer to the girl and brought his hands over her body, the creature hissed and tried to lash out at him. Yukimura looked at the creature silencing it. _Quite beast_. A move of his hand and spectral silver chains appeared and wrapped around the creature, it howled and thrashed before the chains tightened around it and wrapped around its head silencing it.

A golden fire spread from Yukimura's hand that covered Yakumo's body as closed his eyes. He had an idea of what to expect when he would have to face the situation, now coming face to face with it, things were different then what he expected.

Before he guessed that the ritual was done to either increase or stabilize the girl's kekkei genkai, who seemed to manifest to a much higher degree in her. Both he and Sayaka had theorized that the clan's kekkei genkai had an origin in magic and involved it as their illusions were simple far to powerful to be used with only chakra.

The nature of the illusion bordered on yin yang release, while some jutsu used aspect of either yin or yang release, none of them had the sheer potency that the clan's illusion used to posses. _Mostly likely the clan initial used magic but as it was slowly being replaced by chakra that spread through out the world with Rikudo Sennin's teachings after his victory over the Juubi, for whatever reasons the clan made the move to it as well but at some level still kept vestiges of magic within them. _

Yukimura sighed as he began to work on fixing the girl's body, the clan members were always slightly weaker then other shinobi regarding the physical aspect, after inspecting the Yakumo's body he realized that was because of the move from chakra to magic had cost them more then they knew at the time. To help keep the strength of the illusion their bodies were drained of more chakra and because of this were under far more pressure_. _

_If the change had been done more carefully the effects could have been greatly diminished and better handled, had the clan accepted a bigger loss to their abilities they may have not incurred any loss at all. _

The girl moved slightly as Yukimura worked on her body_. Some things sadly needed to be sacrificed, your blood as it was until now is at an end, though I am not cruel enough as to take everything from you. _Her body would be stronger then before, her bloodline had indeed been more powerful in her but the cost was that her physical body would much weaker; to a degree that even attempting to become a shinobi would have been a great risk to her.

He raised an eyebrow picking up something about the girl's body. _Now this can't be right and yet here it is, what could have drove them to_….thinking back on the fire his eyes widened, _oh I see…they are in luck as I can't waist time repairing that damage, still in the future should she desire it I will gladly heal that damage._

Yukimura could feel sweat pouring down his forehead, he cursed the fact that his power was so limited in this form, healing the girl was taking longer then he anticipated. The girls mind had been broken to a degree because of the ritual and lead to the birth of the so called demon Ido. He pressed onwards the girl still wasn't fully healed and time was growing short, the fires still raged outside destroying the compound. Yukimura felt a final click lock into place and smiled, what followed was a domino effect; he could fell the changes taking root into the girl's body. Ido trashed in its chains attempting to howl and break free only to fail and die fading away into oblivion.

As the fires stopped engulfing the girl's body and retreated back onto Yukimura's hands, he looked over his work and his smile grew larger. _Another work I can be proud of_. Her body and mind were now healed, and in time she could surpass the old physical limits of her clan, it would still need plenty of time and hard work but now that old dam was broken, she would never posses the same powers as before, her illusions wouldn't come close to ying yang release, their potency would still be far greater then others and she would have a natural affinity towards them.

_The girl's strength with illusions will be even greater once she learns that art of magic, with a clear line drawn in the sand and proper teachings she won't make the same mistakes as her clan. _

Yukimura brought his hands together and conjured a golden globe that went through the ceiling and through the house until it reached the outside, it hung above the compound showing how the flames had spread and a safe heaven represented by a small garden with a pound not far from the altar room in a part of the compound that the flames hadn't reached.

He nodded to himself and created bubbles around the two survivors and made his way towards the place leaving small clues behind to hint of the man's desperate struggle to save the girl through the chaos of the fire. Once outside he left the two near the pound, he shifted his gaze to the golden globe that still hanged above the compound invisible to the other people, a moment later it cracked into hundreds of small pieces that formed into smaller globes; each went back into the compound. _It doesn't have much power left but I still need to investigate this. _

A few of the globes died out while in the compound and he had other flicker out of existence giving their power to other ones, the globes traveled through out the compound, he directed a part of them and helped to temper the flames near the survivors ensuring their intensity died down and would stay that way until Yakumo and her uncle were found and rescued. A few globes were sent back to the altar room and helped to weaken the ceiling there collapsing it and destroying the room there helping to wipe out evidence of its existence and true purpose. _Some knowledge is better of lost forever._

More of the globes died out from the lack of power, he realized that sadly quite a few places had been consumed by the flames, the clan's library and offices looked to have been lost as well, the clan as it was until now was at end. The few remaining globes found something that made him widen his eyes in shock and clenched his fist, they were just bread crumbs he realized, but a good trail and with some of the other pieces from the fire formed a disturbing puzzle to him.

He looked towards Yakumo and shook his head, in the end it was done, her future would be filled with hardships and difficult decisions as well. She was a long term project as well and would require a different approach then first envisioned, the girl's will would need to be stronger, adopting some of Naruto's values would help, he realized that with the change the option to reveal themselves to her had been wiped of the board.

_The children's training will be kicked up a notch, illusions will have to start coming into play faster then anticipated, it's good that I have just the thing for that, they'll love that training. _

He glanced towards the girl again and shook his head, a myriad of possibility laid sprawled out before him, still he chose the longer road, free will still mattered to him and she had great potential, Yukimura left when he felt more people approaching the location. _At least the girl will have a much more open mind regarding Naruto, for a short time, and a small nudge to get to know him. _Yukimura looked to the south of his location. _Now to investigate that other matter. _

* * *

><p>Review away<p>

Constructive criticism or pointing out possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.

Completion date 17 VII 2014 – publication date, mostly likely 5 X 2014

- The wolf part is something that I got of a site a long time ago it originally refers to the Sith. Sadly I don't remember what site it was to reference it, still it needs to be mentioned that that part is not my work and I do not claim it as such.

- Why yes I did get that dialogue from somewhere else, congrats on spotting it

- Scrapped a plot line in which Naruto caused the death of one of his teachers that had asthma and framed the an Uchiha police officer for the deed, who would have been in part of responsible as he would have refused to aid the teacher.

- The emotion part is taken from somewhere else as well all credits go to the original author.

- A lot of scenes got dropped from this chapter sadly, includes one where they celebrated New Year's eve with Katsue and a few family ones for Naruto and Tenten.

- I wanted to get year two arc done in three chapters however it looks like it may yet grow another chapter or two.


	12. Chapter 12 : Year Two part II

**I do not own Naruto****. **

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – normal thoughts  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><em><strong>Listen<strong>_** – biju, higher being thoughts**

**Chapter 12 : Year Two part II**

"You are correct it is a code and not a very good one at that. It appears that our little friend is using his job at the mail office to keep track of where the letters are being sent and then communicating this information to an interested party."

Naruto let out an exasperated sigh, he was certain he heard a hint of amusement and interest in Yukimura's voice. "I was hoping it wasn't that" he ruffled his own hair in frustration "what am I supposed to do with this information? I could try saying I found it by accident and take it to the Hokage, but the problem is I would have to explain how I got into the man's house. If I give it to Katsue and she goes to the Hokage or to other people the same question could still arise and our relationship would be brought into the light."

Yukimura shrugged his shoulders. "For now simply ignore it, we will see about incorporating this into the larger picture."

Naruto narrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms. "You still haven't told me anything about that, what are you two planning?"

Yukimura waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "We will reveal it in time, at the moment we would rather not say anything related to this matter."

"Why?" One thing about his training at the hands of the two was that he saw the world with different eyes and could see how people hid things all the time, he was slowly beginning to hate secrets especially those kept from him, even if it was for his own good.

Yukimura hesitated for a moment. "You may not agree with all of the actions we are considering."

Naruto snorted. "I doubt that."

"In either case a great deal of things are still up in the air at the moment."

"What things?" _What are they planning?_

"It is complicated; we are attempting to tie several plans together, now you should return to your training. Sayaka has a new little regime all set up for you and Tenten."

Naruto let out an exasperated breath again, his shoulders dropping. "All right, how hard can it be?"

Yukimura gave him and amused smile. "By now you should know better then to ask that question."

* * *

><p>Both Naruto and Tenten collapsed on the ground in a heap of sweat; they were badly bruised and worn out, Sayaka stood a few feet away from them smiling at the two.<p>

Naruto could've sworn he felt his heart in his throat. "I ….could…really… go with ….. a …lot less….painful lessons."

Besides him Tenten nodded wiping the sweat from her forehead and breathing harshly. "Yeah…..that would….be nice."

They felt a wave crashing down on them, their bones seemed to rattle, their flesh quivered under the pressure and their breaths died in their throats, barely managing to look around they saw the dark aura around Sayaka and the look of scorn and her face.

"Remember his well for the rest of your lives children, there's no such thing as a painless lesson." The wave disappeared as quickly as it appeared and the two felt their breath returning. "They just don't exist. Sacrifices are necessary. You can't gain anything without losing something first, although if you can endure that pain and walk away from it, you'll find that you will have a heart strong enough to overcome any obstacle." Sayaka finished her speech and gave the two a warm smile.

Tenten nodded with something akin to admiration in her eyes at Sayaka's speech, Naruto nodded as well though more slowly, he took a few breaths before speaking. "Was the wave really necessary?"

"Yes, it helped to leave a mark on the two of you, a small incentive to aid you in remembering those words." Sayaka shook her head with distaste. "I have seem many attempting to take the so called easier path, those who were unwilling to make any sacrifices and then cried and wailed, surrounded by the corpses of their friends and ashes of their old lives, on how they didn't have the strength they needed to protect what was important to them. Regret swallowed those fools; I will not have either of the two of you walk that path."

They both shouted at this. "Hai!"

"Good, now rest before we continue."

"Ano, a though crossed my mind." Tenten asked her breathing was normal again.

"Yes, go on?"

Tenten weighed her words before continuing. "Why doesn't Yukimura know more about the way shinobi used chakra if he was the Kyuubi, I mean he was around for some time in that form, wouldn't he have a lot of knowledge on it?"

Sayaka smirked and chuckled she looked towards the door to the dojo. "Do you want to tell them?"

Yukimura entered and began grumbling to himself. "I don't know anything about the way shinobi used chakra back then, because why would I have ever needed to? Back then I could have crushed entire villages with a wave of one of my tails. Shinobi had rather puny chakra expenditures that were like tiny bubbles to me." He shook his head. "I was a lot more arrogant back then. It wasn't that unjustified, why would my old form care that much about humans. I may have known a fair bit about the nature of chakra, but why would I know how it works in humans, it was all as natural as breathing to me. It's like trying to teach someone anything that is absolutely second nature to you. I didn't know exactly how I did it;" he shrugged his shoulders again "I just sort of well did it, pure and simple."

Noticing their looks he continued. "Can you explain to someone how you breathe?"

Tenten scratched her head. "Er, no, not really, I just do I guess." Her eyes widened. "Oh, so that's how it was."

Yukimura nodded. "Yes, well there you go."

Sayaka cleared her throat to get their attention. "Now, while you rest. Naruto-kun what is all power?"

Naruto changed his position and sat straight with Tenten following suit. "All power is a test."

Sayaka nodded then looked towards Tenten. "What is knowledge?"

Her own tone had changed from the carefree one to a more serious one. "Knowledge is a weapon, and we must arm ourselves well before we go into to battle."

"Good."

Yukimura stepped up looking at Tenten. "What does the Kenshin strategy entail?"

"If you find yourself in a pitched battle fighting against multiple opponents, run away and then turn around to deal with each pursuer as they attempt to catch up to you, or otherwise find some way to create a one-on-one battle. Specifically, the difference in speed between each enemy will result in them becoming slightly strung out if they all run at full speed to pursue. There's also another spin on this; when you can't use the take down one guy at a time as you run strategy, you lure your pursuers into a narrow alleyway or other place where they can't all rush you at once."

He gave her an approving smile before looking towards Naruto. "Now as to why your training is not focusing more on jutsu."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Besides the obvious?"

Yukimura rolled his eyes. "Humor me."

"Because of the paradox of jutsu, many shinobi become obsessed with a quest to gain powerful or cool jutsu, however there is a flaw in that. If one pursues only abilities, a person will not gain any wisdom about chakra, these jutsu are simply side-effects of our knowledge. Chakra must be studied in depth, it should certainly be the higher priority; jutsu should be secondary, they should not be the focus of one's training. There is nothing wrong with honing the abilities you've obtained, but concentrating solely on those abilities means that they will not become strengthened. A certain degree of balance is required when dealing with chakra, a person cannot limit himself to learning only certain things; one should learn anything and everything that one can."

Yukimura nodded. "Well said, I hope you will remember those words in the future as well."

Sayaka looked towards Tenten. "Now as to why you're training focuses on multiple skills rather then specializing?"

"Because training in something means not training in something else, if you face an enemy against which your abilities work, then specializing in them could very well gain you a win that you wouldn't have gotten if you had spent less time on it and branched out. It's a matter of time; most people have to specialize in order to become effective in the field, teamwork would serve to cover all areas and mitigate any weakness. While it would be ideal if everyone had years to bring all their skills to a high level, people don't have that so the most logical and cost effective course of action is to focus on one's inclinations and individual talents, then bring the other skills up over time. "

Sayaka smiled at Tenten. "Excellent, rest now and we will continue later."

Barely had the two managed to close their eyes that Sayaka's voice awoke them.

Sayaka had an amused smirk on her face. "Now now, you've slept long enough we will continue now, this part I believe that you will enjoy."

The two perked up that, anything was better then what they had experienced so far.

"It concerns the ability that you asked about earlier, the Eye of the Mind, it has two variants, in essence this is a natural talent to avoid danger on the basis of an innate 6th sense, intuition, or prescience, where accuracy of instinct has been augmented by experience, somewhat overcoming the problem of visual obstructions that appear in the course of combat."

Naruto nodded curious about the ability since he heard of it, with Tenten having a glint in her eyes hearing more about the ability.

"The difference between Eye of the Mind (True) and Eye of the Mind (False) lies in that the former is an ability that humans can obtain through accumulation of experience. The False version is superficially similar, but in fact represents a natural instinct that cannot be obtained regardless of effort or experience, even though experience can refine its accuracy. Eye of the Mind (True) is a heightened capacity for observation, refined through experience, capable of calm analysis of battle conditions even when in danger and can deduce an appropriate course of action after considering all possibilities to escape from a predicament. So long as there is even a 1% chance of a comeback; this ability greatly improves the chances of winning."

Both Naruto and Tenten had questioning looks on their faces realizing the problems with obtaining the ability.

"The problem as you may have realized is that either you are born with one of these or need time and the correct situations to refine the other." Sayaka smiled, "it is however your lucky day as I have merged the needed elements for the ability into your new training regime."

Naruto and Tenten's eyes widened and they both shivered at the same time.

Sayaka gave the two a predatory smile and nodded. "Yes, it is quite alright to tremble now."

* * *

><p>Naruto slumped down on the bench next to Tenten resting his head on her shoulder with her resting her head on his, she looked as exhausted as he was; the two were out in the front garden having finished their training exercises.<p>

Naruto groaned. "So what did she make you do?"

Tenten felt eyes slowly closing and released a yawn. "Tied up side down with ropes while getting slowly lowered in a water tank with things getting thrown at me, I had no weapons on me and I couldn't use chakra. After that I had to go through a tunnel filled with opponents, some with weapons and a few without them, I couldn't even keep the ones I got from them. I think the water will have something in it next time, or it will be replaced with something worse, maybe fire or poison."

"Ah." Naruto tried to nod his head but failed.

"You?" She asked barely managing to keep her eyes open.

"I was stuck in a room while it slowly filled with water."

Tenten barely managed quirked an eyebrow she felt like she had just lifted a sack of potatoes with the act. "That doesn't seem too difficult."

"I had an arm and leg paralyzed while trying to get out of there and then I had to fight opponents hand to hand with one arm still paralyzed."

Tenten rubbed her head against Naruto's nodding. "Ah, that sounds much better. Do you think this is her way of making sure we aren't afraid of water or drowning?"

Naruto responded in a dry tone. "Well if that's the case, I hope we don't ever get afraid of fire!"

Tenten chuckled. "Heh, yeah. I wonder does any else have to do these kinds of exercises?"

"I doubt it." He tried to dismiss the train of thought.

"If they did though?"

"Well, at least we would have a strong opponent in the future!"

"Heh, yeah."

The two leaned back into the bench relaxing, a cool breeze whisked past them, Naruto suddenly felt something wet touch his head, he knew it wasn't raining outside, and only felt it on his head. "Sister, are you drooling on me?"

"I'm really sleepy.…do you have the strength to move?"

Naruto sighed and continued in a resigned tone. "No, drool away sis." He leaned more on his sister as sleep finally took him.

* * *

><p><em>Well at least their instructions weren't vague or anything, that still left with a few places to search. Oh well here's hoping fifth tries the charm. <em>

Naruto looked around the high walls surrounding the house, Yukimura had told him about hearing of the incident involving the Kurama clan not long ago and how only the young heiress and her uncle had survived. The two now lived in a smaller house that the clan owned, he knew what Yukimura wanted after he heard the word heiress, now was the perfect time to befriend the young girl. He was surprised when Yukimura told him that he had found a way to leave the god realm for a limited amount of time and in a greatly weakened state, the only thing Yukimura could do was to act as a spy and even that had its risk, still progress was progress.

Now after searching for the house and finally finding it, he was looking for a way to actually meet the young girl, it was his luck that the house was near the Hokage monument and he could use the excuse that he was going there instead. _There_, he could see a small crack in the walls surrounding the house; he looked through and saw a small girl brown haired girl playing there with a ball. _What do to what to do? Sometimes it's best to go with your instinct…. _

He used his best innocent voice. "Do you want to play?"

The girl jumped up and looked around herself visibly shaken. "Who said that?"

He liked the look the girl's eyes had. "Um…I can't really jump over the fence so could you come closer to it?"

The girl came closer to it cautiously and peeked through the openings in the fence.

Naruto gave a cheesy grin while he rubbed the back of his head. "Hi! I'm Naruto."

"What are you doing here?"

"I was trying to find a short cut to the Hokage monument when I heard some noise and came here to see what it was." He fidgeted for a moment to appear nervous. "So um what your name?" He felt the girl's eyes studying him and weighing her options.

"Yakumo."

He gave her another cheesy smile. "Great you wanna play together?"

* * *

><p>Homura let out a tired breath as he cleaned his glasses, his shoulders were slumped and the wrinkles on his face seemed more visible now, his constant frown was present as always. He placed the glasses back on and ruffled his short grey beard thinking about the day's events.<p>

The most recent uproar in Konoha was that of an Uchiha police officer who had murdered a young nineteen year old civilian worker who had first been suspected of trespassing on a housing project, the boy had been unarmed but had apparently startled the officer upon opening the door and coming upon the officer. At that point the Uchiha flung a kunai at the boy and mortally wounded him. It was revealed later during the investigation that the boy worked there and had returned because he had forgotten the keys to his home. The Uchiha themselves were patrolling the area and entered the building when they allegedly heard noises coming from there.

Although the clan head and leader of the Uchiha police force stated that the officer's actions appeared unjustified, a jury found that no criminal act occurred and that the event was a tragic accident, the officer was thus cleared of all charges. Konoha however still had to agree to pay a large sum of money to the boy's family; it wouldn't do to kill the all of them, an image needed to be maintained.

Personally he would have made the Uchiha pay the entire sum themselves, they were still a part of Konoha. The officer's fate was being discussed, visits to a psychiatrist were certain, whether the man could rejoin the police force and the still be a shinobi were uncertain.

_Just what we needed, even now while we're still dealing with the Tetsunori Endo scandal, it is during times like these that I can see myself agreeing with Danzo concerning how a shinobi should act_. _They would not have such slippery fingers or other issues with his training, amongst other things._

The problems with the Uchiha clan seemed too had simmered down with the inclusion of the young clan heir into Anbu, and he had shown his worth there, even recently when he had confronted Shinga during the latter's defection. _How Hiruzen couldn't see a second Orochimaru in the man is beyond me, a closer eye should have been kept on him after Orochimaru's defection. _

_A shame with this more recent incident involving the clan the flames seemed to have been stroked once more, people were already distrustful of them after the Kyuubi incident and now this has only turned more people against them. Even Hiruzen's talks are barely making any progress, should things deteriorate further, drastic action will need to be taken against the clan._ He would do what whatever was needed to ensure Konoha was protected, even from one of her own clans.

Homura leaned back into his chair and remembered that it had not always been this way, not long ago he had thought differently. The current problem was that Konoha was drunk off its own power; it believed that it was strongest and that nothing could truly touch it. And while it was true that Konoha had emerged victories from the wars, those victories had made it possible for a massive ego to grow and that left unchecked threatened to destroy it now.

Year ago he would have thought such a thing pure madness, in his mind back then Konoha was the strongest, there was no doubt about such a thing, those shinobi who were ill prepared were responsible for their fate, Konoha had given them training, if they failed it was because they were weak from the start.

How could they be weak, they had after all emerged victories from the wars and Hiruzen had made a name for himself during the first war, even without a bloodline or blessed with the great lighting affinity of the raikages he had proven his great strength. With other strong shinobi present in Konoha and their names well known through out the Elemental Nations, they were strongest, they had the strongest shinobi as well, there was no doubt about such a matter for him.

It was only during the end of the last war that he realized the truth, when his old genin team had been slaughtered that his eyes were opened to the truth. While they were no where near the strength of the Sannin, they were never the less strong shinobi and he was proud of them. It was during his investigation of their death that he had found signs of the corruption that now plagued Konoha.

While his old team was strong, such a thing could not be said for the other shinobi under their command; he refused to believe that the entire group could have been weak from the start. He had blamed his old team at that time rather then facing the truth of the matter. It was only after the death of the Yondaime and the following incidents that convinced him to look over his past findings again. His discoveries were as bad as he remembered and once he investigated to see how they evolved things only grew worse, from there he began to untangle that web of corruption that had appeared and grown over time in Konoha.

Somewhere a long the way what Konoha represented changed and it became something else, he believed it was sometime during the first and second war that it all began, the emergence of Sakumo Hatake and the Sannin certainly helped matters. Arrogance, complacency, and much worse had spread through out Konoha, the training of their own shinobi suffered then and continued to suffer after that as well, things had gotten to lax in Konoha for it's own good.

_Hiruzen, Koharu and Danzo seemed blind to the issues, they still believe everything is right within Konoha, Danzo if he could, would have all of Konoha's shinobi undergo his training and wage war until only Konoha is left standing, something that at the current time with more of Konoha's infrastructure rotting underneath would destroy us all. _

_Perhaps it is for the best that we each play our own games to keep Konoha standing, most likely Danzo will soon lose his small group and his actions will be further limited, even I can see that Danzo will not renounce the entirety of his small army. No he will continue to act from the shadows doing what he believes is best for Konoha, even if he may further damage it if left unchecked, what he needs is proper direction and boundaries something that Hiruzen seems to forget or chooses to overlook. _

_At least I still hold some cards, it's time I found another assignment for my young protégé, I was lucky to have found someone else who has seen the rot that is spreading in Konoha, especially one so young, even if her past is tainted her future may yet be brighter. _

* * *

><p>Katsue leaned back into her chair and cracked her knuckles, in front of her she had the schedule for the study group she had helped to create, there had been far less hurdles to jump even after its creation then she expected there to be. <em>It helps that the children actually want to learn and are diligent. Tsk though actually planning ahead is so damn troublesome, it's a good thing I had some practice when I came up with schedule for Naruto's separate training. <em>

That sent her mind onto another matter, while the group did add more to her work plate she felt the whole thing was satisfying, the only downside was that she couldn't help Naruto as much as before.

That brought a scowl to her face; his news teachers weren't against him as much as others however they still treated him as coldly as possible and still took a few measures to sabotage him. _Keeping him last during throwing practice while allowing other children more time in the hopes of the practice time ending and him missing his turn_. They would use the excuses they could to shrink from their duties. It gnawed at her that even with their attitude his new teacher were doing a far better job then she had done the first time around.

_Nothing much I can do for now_. She lit one of the scented candles on her desk, before returning her gaze to the papers_. A bonus to the study group is that Tenten is finally starting to make some friends. _The girl had gained a reputation of sort in the class and many avoided her. _Considering how she often demolishes her opponents during the spars I'm not that surprised. Well at least now she's mellowed out a bit and the other children benefit from sparing with her, now that she's showing more restraint. _

"That smells lovely."

Katsue looked behind herself from where the voice came, she smiled at the woman. "Thank you Aya-san."

The woman had long curly black hair that reached her shoulder blades; a rectangle shaped face, dark eyes, a large nose and wore glasses, her height was equal to her own however the had what could be called generous curves when compared to the woman. At first glance many would call the woman attractive, perhaps that was something had given her an advantage in the field, and it was something that reinforced the old saying of looking underneath the underneath.

Aya Aki had been part of the seduction division, and had made a name for herself there, managing to accomplish many missions that even those considered more attractive had failed and barely escaped with their lives. Many still could figure out the woman's secret, she had seduced both men and women, and driven many to suicide after her disappearance.

She heard rumors about a brawl that happened between several men on who could court the woman, that event ended with several of them in the hospital or in prison to cool their heads. Aya had retired from active duty and had begun teaching at the academy a year before she herself started teaching. The woman taught some of the more feminine parts of the kunoichi trade, she suspected but couldn't confirm that the woman was also keeping an eye on girls who had potential for the seduction division.

"I didn't know you had classes today."

The woman shook her head. "I'm filling in for Sunada who took a few days."

"Sunada?" The name sounded familiar to her, she snapped her fingers remembering from where. "Ah yes I remember now. He was the one..." she bit her lip as she closed her mouth, she managed to catch herself as she almost uttered the word Naruto-kun, it wouldn't do to blow the secret in such a way. Though Aya's expression made it clear that she realized that Katsue has stopped herself from uttering something she didn't intend or was inappropriate.

Aya's face took on a stern expression. "The Uzumaki pranked, yes that's the one."

Katsue nodded. "Yes him."

"It would be well if you remembered the name instead of other potential nicknames. The laws must be respected Miwa-san no matter the case, or our own personal feelings."

She panicked realizing the trouble she now faced. _So she thinks I would have called him something else, true no one actually calls him a demon in the academy, though they aren't that far behind. Damn it what should I say to cover for myself? It has to be something to help in the future as well. _"Yes, of course."

"I realize that some our colleagues like to bend and dance around the rules, however a stepping on them will not be tolerated in my presence."

She nodded quickly. "Of course." _She didn't say whether or not the laws could be bent around her either, I wonder just how would she treat Naruto if he was her student? If she knows I was his teacher then she may have heard how I treated him before, it could be seen from that point of view that I came up with a nickname to call him when the other teachers were around. _"You are correct Aki-san."

The woman's tone finally relented. "Now, no need to be so formal Katsue-san, I was just reminding you of something you already know, no harm done, isn't that correct?"

She nodded again shakily. Is this what made her such a good agent going for seemingly innocent and caring to threatening in the blink of an eye? "Of course Aki-san." _I need to stir this conversation somewhere else_. "You mentioned Sunada had taken a few days off?"

"Yes, apparently the man had applied for jounin rank however after the prank the application was rejected, he is mostly likely blowing off some steam. Honestly if he is caught so easily then he doesn't deserve the rank."

"Hmm." _Naruto did mention that the man had been mean to him for no reason; I guess Sunada is one of those people, not long ago I was one myself. If Aki knew of Naruto's potential and his skills she would pity Sunada for going up against him. _

"Ah it looks like the fresh meat is quite active today."

She looked towards the person Aki was referring. "Oh, him."

The man was of average height and build, he had black hair that he kept in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose, he wore the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with forehead protector, sandals, and the flak jacket, his sleeves were rolled up about one fourth of the way.

_A chunin who joined the academy not long ago._ There were steps need to be taken before a person could start teaching at the academy, not very hard ones she had to admit to herself, however they were still there and the man had breezed past them with ease. Since then he had been assigned to several teachers to act as an aid doing anything and everything needed.

Aki continued. "Rumors has it he may actually get a class next year."

"I think he's earned it, he has been helping the other teachers for some time now and they've all spoken good things about him."

"Perhaps, he's still very young isn't he?"

She wanted to scowl at the woman. _I'm not much older myself. _"Does that really matter that much?"

The woman shook her head. "Perhaps not, I'll leave you to your work then." Aki only took a few steps before she tilted her head back looking at her. "Oh and do remember what we talked about concerning rules."

She gulped and nodded, letting a breath she had been holding after the woman left the room. _That was unexpectedly harsh_; she looked towards the person the last part of their conversation involved, _no time like the present_, getting out of her chair she made her way to the man. "Ah Umino-san correct?"

The man nodded smiling. "Yes, Miwa-san."

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced since you started here have we?"

"Um, well not yet no."

"Let's change that shall we?" She held out her hand. "My name is Katsue Miwa."

"Umino Iruka." He shook her hand. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." She smiled at him and sent a look to the papers he placed on his desk moments before she approached him. "I hope I'm not keeping you from something important."

"Oh no, I just finished looking over some assignments." The man had a small smiled on his face.

She noticed the man's smile. "Did you find something amusing?"

"Just what some of the students wrote, they have a very active imagination!"

She chuckled at that. "Didn't we all at that age?"

"Yes I guess everyone did, I know I used mine, that's for sure."

"Oh?" she asked intrigued.

She noted how he seemed embarrassed. "I was err quite the prankster when I was younger."

_Interesting, something he may share with Naruto_. "You don't seem like one Iruka-san."

"It was a long time ago."

"It couldn't have been that long; you're not that old yourself."

His expression changed taking on a sad look. "It feels like a lifetime since then, after the Kyuubi attack a lot of things changed."

"Yes they did, you lost people back then?"

"My parents, I think everyone lost someone then."

_Oh damn it_. Her eyes widened at that however it appeared Iruka had ignored it. "Yes."

"I was alone after that, I didn't have a family and I did what I could for attention getting into a lot of trouble, however in my darkest moment I was cheered up by Hokage-sama."

_Ah and there it is_. "He is a great man."

"Yes he is. I've wanted to become a teacher for a long time now, I want to pass on the Will of Fire to the next generation," Iruka cast a look on the papers on his desk "the children of the village are the backbone of Konoha, and now I finally have the skills to protect them even if it means to sacrifice my own life to ensure their safety. I'm sorry I rambled on like that I"

"It's alright" she grabbed one his shoulders giving him a comforting squeeze and smile "you're following your dream and you have a passion for it there's nothing wrong with it. You're good man Iruka."

"Thank you Miwa-san."

"I'll let you get back to work." _Oh Iruka, the world eats good men for breakfast, clearly you've escaped its teeth, but I have to wonder for how long? You haven't seen what the world can spew out and you are blinded by your admiration. A shame, I hope Naruto doesn't come into contact with him, if he does Iruka will have a personal crisis on his hands. _

* * *

><p>If there was one thing Naruto was grateful about his reputation, it was that all of the people from his apartment building, save Katsue and the landlord, had moved out and no one else showed any intention of moving to the place either.<p>

With the landlord not bothering to check any of the apartments, and being drunk most of the time, Naruto and his sister had almost complete free reign over the place. They had already stashed a few items in the other apartments after exploring them thoroughly for anything worth taking.

Naruto himself had stashed several of the items he had stolen in a few rooms, while first making it look like someone entered the apartment illegally. The two following advice from Yukimura had created numerous safe boxes, in case the need should ever arise, and stashed them across Konoha and even in the forested areas outside of it.

To their surprise and amusement the two managed to find the safe boxes of other people, apparently they weren't the only ones who thought they could conceivably need to make a quick exist from Konoha in the future.

The contents of boxes varied to a degree, though a small number of common items still existed, Naruto swapped a part of the money he had stolen with those found in the safe boxes. At least he thought this way he could have an excuse as to why he had more money, he had simply found it while playing.

* * *

><p>"He who lives for nothing is nothing. He who dies for the chained one is a hero!" The priest's voice seemed to boom across the area as he spoke capturing the peoples attention.<p>

While she admitted she wasn't as good as sneaking around as her brother, she still had some good skill at it and she could spot other people sneaking around her and watching from the shadows. Every time she got near the new priests she would get a distinct feeling on the back of her neck. It took a while before she was finally able to realize what was going on, she would sit and listen to all the priests while studying her surroundings, a few times she listened to them from afar getting a better view of the situation.

It wasn't that hard to spot she realized, the Uchiha police force seemed to have people patrolling the area and a few would often remain in a given place for a length of time to observe things. When she looked at it closer she saw that the Uchiha where positioned in such a way that someone always had their eyes on the priests at all times, they were never to far away from them.

A bit of observation on her part also led her to discovering that the Uchiha's also seemed to be keep the priests under observation even outside of the market place, whether at a restaurant or the places they slept, it seemed someone always had a pair of eyes on them.

_They must keeping them under observation to see if they actually are priestess or spies, maybe they also want to know how their influence in Konoha is growing. The priestess could still be deep undercover spies who would turn the new followers into spies as well. Come to think of it I don't think that there are any temples in Konoha, maybe Konoha didn't allow them to be built, and now with the new priests they want to see how far they are willing to go. Well I'd best get home, I'm sure Yukimura and Sayaka will have ideas about this once I tell them._

* * *

><p><em>Well that is interesting. <em>Naruto mussed as he watched a playground from afar, he had just seen a few children mock an Akamichi child because of his weight, with him leaving the playground upset. _Huh well I guess keep this place under observation has finally paid off, best to introduce myself now._ _What to say, what to say, probably some stuff on how his weight doesn't matter and offer to play together. Heh I'll just be my normal adorable and innocent little self, it worked well on Yakumo, this way I'll get someone on the inside of a clan, maybe he even knows the clan heir. _

* * *

><p>Hidero struggled the free himself from the chains holding him, sweat dripped down his face as he struggled, he was chained upside down to a winch and was being slowly lowered into a vat of poison. Following his survival of the trial and the gift of receiving his markings, his entire life had become one training exercise after another.<p>

The older members of their order would beat him in the morning and in the evening, to ensure that he would be used to pain and could fight on withstanding it. They threw rocks; blunted kunai and shuriken at him to aid in develop his reflexes.

Any show of hesitation or a mistake would be severely punished, any hint of mercy rewarded with cruelty. Their leader had taken to personally instructing him, his new Master explained to him everything there was on the history between his people and their hated enemy.

He could feel himself growing stronger with each session in his training, every injury hardened him and his hatred, every thing was just another step he needed to take to get closer to killing his people's enemy.

A small smile graced his lips as he heard a click from behind as the chains holding him gave way; he swung himself with the remaining chain and jumped down near the vat.

He looked to his master expecting some sort of praise, the response surprised him, turning his gaze down as the air left his lungs he saw his master's fist planted in his stomach.

"That chain is useful to us, more useful than you are right now, did you not consider its importance? It's use as another weapon against your enemies? Foolish child, you will retrieve the chain from there."

Hidero fell to the floor clutching his stomach and grasping for air, he managed to get his breathing under control and rose to his feet staring at the vat in front of him_. Just another step, no one else is training as hard as I am; I wish they did so I would have a worthy opponent in the future. _

* * *

><p>Naruto entered his apartment with a smile on his face and a letter in his pocket, he still needed to keep things hidden in case the Hokage spied on him but the news he wanted to share it as soon as possible. "Oh snap sister."<p>

Tenten snapped her head towards him from the table. "Huh what is it?"

He smiled at her. "I think are money problems are solved!"

Tenten's eyes narrowed looking at him suspiciously. "Why? What did you steal?"

"I didn't steel anything I got a reply for the books I sent out."

"Really?" she asked incredulously.

He nodded enthusiastically. "Yep, they want to meet here in Konoha and discuss publishing some of them!"

She smiled as well. "That's great!"

"Yep, we're celebrating tonight!"

"Great that means we can buy some new things."

"Yep." He nodded thinking of the future.

"With the money you recently stole."

"Yes. With the money I recently…..shit."

Tenten's eyes turned cold looking at him. "So you have been stealing again."

_Well double shit_, he shrugged his shoulders. "It helps pay the bills."

"Until someone catches you and then what are you going to do?" she slammed her hand on the table "You'll get mind rapped!"

"Nothing like will happen I'm always careful with the targets I pick and I go in with two back up plans."

Her eyes were slowly watering. "Something can always happen, something that you didn't plan for!"

"I'll be fine you don't have worry so much."

"Do you know what could happen if you get caught, what the Hokage will do? I could lose you! You could …."

Naruto could see her shaking now he didn't hesitate and went over and hugged her. "I won't happen I promise you that."

Tenten sniffed and nodded. "I'm going with you next time."

"What?" He could hold the surprise from his voice.

She broke the hug and starred him directly in the eyes. "I said I'm going with you next time."

"But but you have the academy and can't afford to miss out on it."

"I don't care."

He heard the steel in her voice, arguing now would be useless, he relented. "Ok, if this book thing happens I'll keep my thieving to a minimum, and I'll wait for when you can come with me, all right?"

"Yeah." Tenten nodded wiping her eyes.

* * *

><p><em>Well that was nice, I guess this is what kids my physical age should be doing, rather then the insane exercises Sayaka creates for me. The fact that I let slip the information about the clan heirs starting the academy next year, will either get her mind working or that of her uncle's<em>. He shrugged and took another path to his apartment. _Ten-chan won't be back for a while so I might as well explore another forested area in Konoha. _

Life had been pleasant for him in the last few months, he had made a friend in Yakumo, and in Chouji, who to his surprise was the heir of his clan, it was only thanks to his training that he kept the reactions of surprise, joy and a grim smile of his face when he discovered that little truth. It was a shame that he couldn't have his new friends meet his sister yet, but they needed to have a stronger bond first before he could reveal that secret. _Tsk I wouldn't trade her for them no matter what happened. _

Soon enough he would start a new academy year together with the clan heirs and then he could finally drop a part of his mask, even if just a little. _Katsue will be glad when that happens, she's already angry about my situation now as it is, and I only have so many excuses to use. _

There were a few things he expected to find during his trip on the bottom of that list was a tag labeled Kisuke stuck to a rock, he scratched his head looking at unsure of what to make of it. _Well this is just odd_. He pumped a bit of magic in the surrounding area and discovered that he was alone there.

_Going by the paper and ink this isn't that old, so someone made this recently. It doesn't look like a trap of any sort._ Ever so gently he lifted part of the paper from around the rock to see if he could spot anything else under it_. I can't tell what this thing is supposed to be, no one knew I would take this route so it can't be for me. Was this left behind for someone else?_ _I did stumble on a spy operation already so this may not be that far off. Then again it may just be something utterly unimportant, well then nothing ventured nothing gained. _

He pumped more magic into the surrounding area and the rock before taking a deep breath, in the next moment he tore it off and closed his eyes. He expected something to happen only to open his eyes and see that he was holding a rock and a piece of paper. _Huh I guess shouldn't think that everything has to exciting all the time._ Deciding to explore the matter later, he pockets both the stone and paper then heads off back towards his apartment.

* * *

><p>"The ripper killed again!"<p>

From the shadows Yugao watched as the man who shouted from the top of his lungs was running through the crowd causing panic. She and her Anbu team had just finished their mission and were preparing to return to Konoha when she heard the man shouting.

Her eyes flew from face to face of each person she saw; she could see fear and despair in their eyes_. Again? How many times has this happened before?_ A small sound drew her attention to her left; her captain had arrived as well.

She made a few short gestures in the language all Anbu used. _Should we investigate?_

Her captain's reply was crisp and clear. _Negative. The mission comes first. _

Yugao knew her captain embodied what it meant to be Anbu; he had made their rules of conduct part of his own being.

_For every battle honor, a thousand heroes die alone, unsung, and unremembered. It is what it means to be an Anbu. _She nodded and left together with the rest of the team, as they snuck through the shadows making their way out of the town she cast one last glance back. _It's out of my hands now._

She noticed one of her team members, Bear, signaling to her. _It's not the only town where this ripper person has killed. _

She signaled back confused. _What? _

_I heard rumors of this happening in other cities as well, Konoha nin were called to investigate however they could find the killer. _

She looked ahead her captain was talking to another team member, Sheep, and ignoring them, from her left the last member of her team joined the conversation. Horse, the only other woman on the team.

_The killings may have started near the border with Tea,_ Yugao's eyes widened, they were near the border with the lower countries if that was true then the killer had travelled through the damn country to get from one end to the other, _Konoha wasn't called in when they started and by the time we investigated, the crime scene was a mess and we couldn't get anything._

She flew through the needed signs to question her teammate. _And it's the same killer?_

Horse shrugged before signaling her answer. _Don't know, it's still possible._

The conversation ended when their captain gave the sign for silence.

Yugao glanced ahead attempting to shut out her thoughts on the matter. _Ironic the mission had us saving people from death at the hands of bandits on the road and here people are dyeing in what should be safe and peaceful cities. Eventually the killer will get caught or he will find someone who will fight back and kill him._

* * *

><p>Naruto awoke suddenly feeling a coldness on his back, his eyes quickly traveled to the room's window, what he saw however was the image of a transparent man floating at the foot of his bed.<p>

He blinked and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, looking closer at the man, who had a gaunt face, was tall, had long loose brown hair, with a distinctive bang covering the right side of his face, and was wearing Anbu attire. Seeing the man's clothing Naruto immediately started to pump some magic into the room to see if he was being spied upon.

The man waved at him and came closer to him. "Don't be afraid little boy, I'm not here to hurt you."

"What?" _There doesn't appear to be anyone else in the room and Hokage isn't using the seals either, best to enlarge the range to make sure there's no in the other rooms either._ "You aren't?" He cast a look at Tenten who was still sleeping peacefully. _She's sleeping like a rock isn't she? I guess the extra training she did at the academy wore her out. _

The man shook his head. "No, I myself am unsure as to why I'm here in the first place; I only awoke in this place barely for a few moments ago."

_Besides Katsue, there's no one else in the building. This may not be a trap after all, however I can't tell if this is an illusion or not. _"Why are you here?"

"I don't know, I don't even remember my own name."

"Really?" he tried to keep his voice as childish as possible but he knew a spark of something else had entered it. _Interesting, let's try something then._ He pumped more magic to his right arm and approached the transparent man.

The man scowled at him. "You can't touch me, sadly I can't touch anything either."

Naruto smiled and brought his hand towards the man as if he wanted to shake hands, the man looked irritated before stretching out his hand, to his surprise a mark appeared on Naruto's palm and the man was quickly drawn into it.

Naruto let out a breath and shook his hand; he looked around the room and then placed his head back on the pillow.

"What's going on?"

Naruto looked to his left and noticed then woken up as well though she looked half asleep. "Nothing just a stray cat with golden eyes that was looking at us from the window."

Tenten nodded her head as if she understood the situation. "Um ok, damn pervy cat."

"Go back to sleep that's what I'm going to do." Naruto closed his eyes and snuggled closer to Tenten. _Well those two can handle whatever that was._

* * *

><p>Kisuke opened his eyes and found himself on a small green hill overlooking a river in a valley of sorts; behind him he saw mountains while beyond the river their appeared to be an endless green plane. <em>What happened I was in that boy's room one moment and the next I'm here? <em>

"Ah hello."

He jumped hearing voice from behind him and got into a combat position by instinct. He saw two people behind him, the two people a men and a woman wore silver robes. _Where did they come from? I didn't hear then nor did I see them approach. _

The man chuckled as he took a step forward. "Well we have some good news and some bad news for you my good man."

Kisuke stayed in his combat form looking the man. "Who are you?"

The man continued speaking ignoring his question. "The good news is that we will be able to help you remember who you are and what exactly happened for you to end up in this situation."

For a brief moment a small hope grew in his chest, before she squashed it, he didn't know were he was or who these people were he couldn't trust them, his tightened his stance in preparation for a fight. "You can?"

The man nodded and his face took on a grim smile with the woman next to him doing the same thing. "The bad news is that we will have to mind rape you to dig out everything useful that you may posses and then force your soul to move onto the afterlife while breaking the bonds holding it in the world of the living."

"What?"

"Goodbye." A moment later chains sprouted from the earth and bound him in place, it wasn't long before his scream filled the valley.

* * *

><p>AN :<p>

Review away

Constructive criticism or pointing out possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.

Check out the new poll on my page and the forum where the other polls are.

- Next chapter wraps up Year II

- this chapter really lacked the meat that others had, sadly this is also I think the smallest chapter to date.

- I had other plans for the chapter however real life got in the way of them and I rushed things along. Both Naruto and Tenten should have had interactions with their classmates and Naruto with Yakumo and Chouji, sadly that wasn't meant to be.

- I want to wrap things up regarding year II next chapter so I can get the ball rolling on the more important parts.

Completion date 20 IX 2014 – publication date, mostly likely 5 XI 2014

Judging by the trailer for the new Naruto movie, the pairing may in fact be Hinata, and after the recent chapters if there are still people who are rooting for NaruSaku, well Kishi kind of took a piss on that. Personally I would like to see him end up with Anko or Tenten, or Mei or Samui(There's a good joke there about them propagating the master race waiting to be made there). It's still early to celebrate victory in the pairing war, even if it does seem like there's a good chance of it.

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	13. Chapter 13 : Year Two part III

**I do not own Naruto**

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – normal thoughts  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><em><strong>Listen<strong>_** – biju, higher being thoughts**

**Chapter 13 : Year Two part III **

After arriving in the godrealm both Naruto and Tenten went through the house, now finding either Yukimura or Sayaka the changed cloths and went to the dojo, most of the time if the two weren't there to greet them it meant that they had something planned for them. Entering the dojo they found the two in the centre of the room, sitting in a meditative position wither their eyes closed, waiting for them.

Sayaka opened her eyes and smiled seeing the two. "Excellent you have arrived" her smiled turned predatory "we have some new training exercises for you to enjoy children."

Tenten answered in a dry tone. "Ah, how wonderful."

Sayaka's predatory smiled grew larger. "Oh I knew you'd love it my dear."

Naruto looked between the two he thought he saw lighting sparks flying between them, he knew Tenten was actually eager to rise to whatever challenge Sayaka had for them, he shifted his head towards Yukimura who had a small amused smirk on his face. "Um, what about that man I sent here?"

Yukimura opened his eyes. "Ah yes" his voice took a dismissive tone "that person, don't worry about him."

Tenten looked towards him with an arched eyebrow and a curious expression on her face. "Who?"

Naruto sent her a quick look. "The pervy cat I told you about."

Tenten's expression didn't change. "Who?"

"Naruto-kun stumbled upon the sealed soul of a person and unknowingly released him," Sayaka sent a glare at him and he flinched, he knew he was going to pay for that mistake "that person you saw, the pervy cat, was just that, a person's soul."

Tenten looked between Sayaka and Naruto. "What?"

He pushed the notion of his imminent punishment to the back of his mind his curiosity taking precedence. "Someone managed to seal a soul?" He never considered that a possibility, now that he thought about it, the notion wasn't that spectacular, if small items such as cloths and weapons could be sealed and biju could be sealed, then he couldn't find a reason why a human soul's couldn't be sealed somehow.

Tenten inclined her head to the right looking at Sayaka, the confused expression replaced now by a curious one. "Wait, how do you seal a soul and how did he see one?"

"Good questions, seeing one isn't as far fetched as you might think, in time of the gods it did occur, as for the sealing, well if biju can be sealed why not human souls?"

Yukimura nodded and got up to his feet. "I myself am curious about the process, it may just be magical in nature, whether the person who used it knows this or not is still unknown at the current time."

Naruto watched as Yukimura gave Sayaka his hand to help her rise up, they both kept their smiles on their faces. "Who was he?"

Yukimura smirked eyeing him. "An ANBU member who had been working on investigating the possibility of spies in the village."

Both he and Tenten chuckled hearing that. "Considering I stumbled on that person in the post office, he wasn't very good at his assignment, was he now?"

Tenten looked around the room. "Is he still here?"

Sayaka shook her head. "No, he has passed on to the great unknown."

"He did however leave behind a lot of knowledge about many interesting topics, one of which was about the person who sealed him."

He raised an eyebrow at that information. "That was generous of him."

Yukimura's face also took a predatory smile. "Oh, yes, and you two are going to help capture that person."

Both he and Tenten blinked surprised and uttered simultaneously. "We are?"

Yukimura nodded at the two. "Yes you are, oh don't worry, its time we slowly put our plans into motion, this will tie to quite a few other things, that little spy at the post office amongst them."

He couldn't help but smile hearing that information. "Finally we get things going, so how are you going to do that?"

"Well for starters, we're going to show you a new trick, one we have been working on for quite some time."

"What is it?"

Yukimura and Sayaka each raised an arm to their sides causing the air around it to ripple. "We're going to show you how to send people to the god realm."

* * *

><p>Yukimura and Sayaka were sitting at a table drinking tea in a white room with floating panels around, the few glimpses from them revealed maps of the country, the continent and the human body with the chakra network outlined.<p>

Sayaka poured herself more tea. "It is interesting this change of pace."

Yukimura nodded staring into his tea cup. "Yes and also very unexpected."

"Indeed" she added two spoons of sugar to her tea and a slice of lemon "this event did not always occur in fact it was on the low end of the spectrum, and even when it did occur, it was much later in his life."

Yukimura smiled seeing her adding the slice of lemon; she had quite a sweet tooth, and getting her to accept something that could potentially ruin the sweet taste had been harder that pushing a boulder up a mountain after a heavy rain. His smiled faded and a concerned scowl replaced it. "Perhaps my vision is clouded somehow; the point of origin I chose could be tainted."

"Or perhaps it because of the involvement of another god."

"Its beginning to look more and more like it, the plan will need to have even more flexibility built into it then before. We can only hope the major events stay somewhat similar."

"Similar is a good word for it, doubtlessly they will have something changed about them, whether for better or worse remains to be seen." She chuckled. "Considering whose luck we're talking about it will most likely be both."

Yukimura chuckled and nodded. "Well at least now we have more knowledge on chakra and can begin to take properly adapt our teaching methods, not to mention not having to rely on second hand words for the children's training."

She gave him an amused smile. "I thought you liked experimenting with it."

"I do however after a while the exploding avatars tend to get on my nerves."

She smirked. "No matter how amusing that may be."

Yukimura rolled his eyes. "Even so."

"Still, I had expected more from the so called elite; he seemed rather lacking in strength."

"Compared to others that we know of, yes, never the less we can make good use of what we knew and go work from there. I will confess that he seemed rather lacking in the traps department, even if his skills were valued highly in that regard."

"We will soon have the man who bested him to compare notes, that soul binding seal is of particular interest."

"True, I'm curious of its capabilities as well." She paused for a moment. "Will you tell the children on what we did with the man's soul, and what we will do with the other one?"

"I believe that at some level, they know something more occurred then and will take place after we capture that man."

"Hmm. A shame we won't be able to keep him here until we access the temple, it would have made things so much easier."

"If we can make more progress on the pocket dimension, then perhaps we can use it in the future alongside the other contingencies."

"Yes, the ones will the training programs are coming along nicely, a few more wont hurt."

"At least this way we will still teach them even if we are indisposed."

* * *

><p><em>And that takes care of that.<em> Naruto smiled as he closed to the door to his new apartment and slowly started towards the building's rooftop. Earlier he had met and signed a book deal with a publisher, who had also given him a small bonus for signing the contract, true he had stolen more money, however this money was clean.

Now he had a new apartment that was conveniently located in the same building as his first apartment. _Which the mysterious author can use while in Konoha to meet his publisher and work on his projects in peace and quite._ He hand to give himself a pat on the back, he had sold the reclusive author persona well enough, his current landlord was thrilled to have a new tenant and had hardly asked any questions.

Naruto pumped magic through his arm and spread it around his surroundings making sure no one was nearby before he dropped his henge and entered the apartment he shared with his sister. He smiled seeing her on the bed fidgeting, she was worried the deal would fall thorough for some reasons or another, a small glance to the table showed she had prepared several salads while waiting. _When did she start cooking when worried?_

"Well?" she asked in a worried tone getting up from the bed.

"Let's go water the flowers sister." _Lets go somewhere were we wont be spied upon._

She nodded and followed him swiftly out the door, it wouldn't do for the Hokage to interrupt their discussion, they were always nervous in the apartment because of the eventual spying the Hokage performed. Soon enough they entered another apartment on their floor that had the window covered with wooden boards.

"Well?" she repeated in the same tone.

"Well what?" he asked smiling and tilting his head at her.

A scowl marred her face though now she was visibly more relaxed. "Don't be a jerk Naru."

"Heh" he pulled out a roll of cash from a pocket of his pant, "success sister!"

"Yes!" she hugged him squeezing hard.

He scratched the back of his head. "Heh I told you it wouldn't be a problem!"

Tenten gave him a mocking smile and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Sure Naru, is that why you asked Yukimura and Sayaka to run even more scenarios for the meeting then they suggested."

He chuckled nervously. "Um…. That was just to…err give you peace of mind sister."

She raised an eyebrow looking at him, making it clear that she didn't believe a word he was saying.

"Heh, well maybe I was a tad nervous, nothing too much."

Tenten's expression didn't change.

He relented. "Well ok a lot."

Tenten smiled. "Better."

"Now I have a request." He wiggled the money in his hand. "Please slap me in the face with this wad of cash."

Tenten shrugged her shoulders taking the money from his hand. "Sure why not."

"Just not too hard." barely had the words left his mouth that he has knocked off his feet, he had a brief moment when he saw the smile on Tenten's face.

* * *

><p>Chouji walked through his clan's garden under the moonlight, he was in the part his grandfather on his father's side owned, the last time he had been here something had caught his eye as he was leaving with his father however he hadn't said anything back then. Now he was searching for the place again it would be his own adventure, passing by the small pound with the odd twin fish statue in the middle of it he spotted the wooden plackets.<p>

_Here it is!_ He got down on one knee looking at the old wooden plankets; he could see a metal handle covered by grass. Chouji gathered his strength and pulled on the handle, going to his right side he gently sat it down on the ground. Looking back he now saw revealed a square shaped hole with a pillar in the middle of it, on the pillar he saw a rusted small metal box.

He could see that it was out of arms reach, looking inside the whole again he could see that the inside walls were made of earth but there was something else about them, curiously he placed a hand on one. _It's dry!_ Running a hand over it he realized what had caught his attention. _There are no bumps on them! The walls in my room are the same; my old bed mattress had bumps in it before it was changed. So how come these don't have anything? _

Chouji took a deep breath it didn't look like he was going to get an answer so he decided to try something else, his hands dug into the earth near the hole and he left his shoes near him, slowly his feet touched the earth one nearest to him. His plan was to hang on with one hand to the ground while getting grabbing the box with the other one.

As soon as let go of the earth with one hand he realized another problem, his couldn't hang on to the wall with his feet and worse still he has slipping, he tried to grab on to the earth with his free hand as he realized that he would fall down to late as the ground gave way from his other hand, he closed his eyes before a hand caches him.

"Chouji! Its ok I got you!"

His eyes quickly snapped open. "Grandpa!" A smile forms on his face seeing his grandfather, the man had short cut grey hair, a large diamond shaped face and forehead, thick lips and numeras lines from old age that marred his face.

"I was...I was trying to get to this..."

"It's alright, just hold on tight." Gently he was pulled and he hugged him, his breath calmed down while his grandfather held him.

"Come on lets get you to your room and I'll explain what's in the old box if your so curious about it."

"But how will you get it?"

His grandfather chuckled and smiled down at him.

Chouji watched as his grandfather used one of their clan techniques to enlarge his right arm and grab the box that looked more like a pebble in the giant arm.

"I may be old but I can still do these even in my sleep." He lifted him with one and placed him on his left shoulder. "Come on kiddo, he rattled the box once, I'll tell you this little beauties story."

It was only after Chouji had changed and gotten into bed that his grandfather showed him what was inside the metal box.

"What is it grandpa?" His grandfather was sitting on left side of his bed and handed him a dark red shoulder pad, it looked like those that his family wore.

"That there? That's a hundred percent genuine amour piece of Mountain Breaker's amour."

Chouji turned the piece on each side looking over carefully, it had scratches in several places, he looked at his grandfather quizzically. "Mountain Breaker, whos that?"

His grandfather made an exaggerated surprised expression. "Who's that?! Only the hero who helped Konoha win the first shinobi world war!"

"You mean the Hokage?"

"Pfft! You watch your mouth little boy! The mountain breaker was handing what's what to every other village when the third was stilling learning what chakra is. They did team up plenty of times, though, fighting Konoha's enemies. They even took on a kage or two together." The man rubbed his chin. "Least I think they did..."

Chouji handed the piece back to his grandfather. "So how come I never heard of him?"

"Well, I guess your father isn't teaching you right. The mountain breaker never really cared for getting attention or getting in the history books. He was just trying to inspire others around him...to teach them that they didn't have anything to be afraid of." Seeing the confused look he continued.

"See, my boy, if its one thing I learned anything in this life, its that this world is what you make it out to be. If you run around believing that everything is terrible, thinking the worst of everyone around you, well...that's what you get. You see the world that way and it starts to make you afraid. And when people get afraid that when they do wrong. That's when they start wanting to control things, that's when they stop caring for their neighbor. Most bad people are people who let that fear take over. Does it make any sense?"

"I think so." Chouji felt his eyes slowly closing and struggled to stay awake.

"And most of the good on this dust ball comes from the people who can see what's great about it, and see the good in the man next to them. The people who know, when the chips are down, there isn't nothing we can't do. That's what the mountain breaker stood for. Believing in that."

"He sounds pretty cool."

His grandfather ruffled his hair. "That right?"

"Yeah grandpa." Chouji felt his eyes closing again and knew he wouldn't win the struggle. "But how come you have a piece of his amour?"

"That's a story for another time kiddo."

After leaving the room the man saw his son standing a few feet away from the door smiling. "That was a nice speech dad, reminded me of the you gave me years ago."

They both started walking away from the room.

"I still mean every word of it."

A sour looked crossed his face. "And yet you don't see the irony of that and your attitude towards his friend?"

His arms started shaking and the veins on his neck became visible. "THAT THING ISN'T HUMAN!" He let out and exasperated sigh. "He doesn't qualify at such! the Hokage should have let my old bastard of a teammate have him."

"Oh? You weren't so happy to see him last when he came by wanting to recruit from our clan."

"Danzo will only get our clan members over my dead body!"

"And yet you would give him another child?"

"IT ISN'T HUMAN!"

He shook his head. "I was hoping you'd give the boy a chance."

"I gave him more then a chance, I gave him my bloody leg when it attacked!" he gestured to his own left leg. "It should have died then and there, we should have... "

"Enough! I've seen the boy and he is no threat!"

"That's worse then, at least he should have been a killing machine by now."

"Can you even hear yourself talk anymore? Just a few moments ago you were talking about having faith in people and now this?"

"Yes, trust the other clan members, fellow Konoha shinobi, not that" he struggled to find his words "...that...thing."

"I am disappointed; however I will follow what you preached and not what you do now. I've the boy a chance and he has show that he is no threat, you will not poison my sons mind on the matter."

He turned facing the man. "Understood?"

"Yes clan leader."

He crossed his arms looking at the man. "So it's come to this. Good, remember just who is in charge of this clan and why you stepped down, you entrusted me with this responsibility believing I could make the decisions needed to lead our clan. This right now is my decision and I ask you to follow, if not as a father trusting his son then as a loyal clan member."

"YES clan leader!"

* * *

><p>Naruto rubbed his cheek as made his way through the market place. <em>Damn sister can sure hit.<em> He stopped at several shops to look over their merchandise, in truth he cast several quick glances towards the priests who were, even with the harsher weather still preaching with the same vigor as during the summer.

_Sister was right the Uchiha's are keeping a strict eye on them; they most likely spy on the priests even when out of the market place. I guess the question is can they trust the priests to be just that and not spies, if any shinobi joins their religion and becomes a more loyal to them then Konoha their lips may just open to a few secrets that Konoha would rather keep quiet._

_Huh, a religious order could be the perfect way to run a spy operation; they could convert their new members and slowly over time shift their loyalties from one place to another. _

_Considering what a shinobi's life consists off I'm not to surprised. If the priests sell the whole we can save your soul part well enough they could get a good chunk of people to join up. _

_What exactly happened that Konoha allowed these priests here, there isn't a temple in Konoha, that either I or sister have ever seen. Did the Hokage compromise on something with them; could he have gotten something in return? I doubt the Kyuubi attack could have had such an impact on Konoha as to break something that appears to be an unwritten rule. Maybe when no one took them seriously the priests that came before simply left and these more recent simply haven't given up yet._

He stopped in his tracks a moment before continuing. _That actually makes some sense, if no one took them seriously and Konoha was strict on giving them any land to build a temple the priests could have given up and left. With the Kyuubi, a lot of people died and emotions running high, it looked like the right time to try again. For the shinobi this must look like someone striking at them when they perceived weakness. Not that it isn't they are taking advantage of a tragedy to try and gain new members, or maybe they see it as saving the peoples souls? How any religion can accept people who are active shinobi into their ranks is beyond me. _

"Are you going to buy something or what kid?"

Naruto looked to the merchant; he could see the small amount of fear in the man's eyes. "Huh, sorry mister!" _I was rambling again; I really need to stop doing that_. "Bye." The man reluctantly acknowledged the gesture.

Ever since he had orchestrated the fall of one of the so called big merchants of Konoha, the other ones had fallen in line for the most part, while the prices in some places were still a bit higher the quality of the products was the same as for the rest of the people. However he still preferred to shop in a few selected places, namely Takenao Toma and his friends, he enjoyed remembering the look of fear in their eyes when he met the group.

Usually his sister would shop at various stores while he stayed closer to the circle he had built, though from time to time he still enjoyed visiting the other shops just to see the look in the people's eyes. Oddly in recent years while the scorn had remained and the cold glares were still a constant companion, things seemed to have diminished in their intensity, people were much more willing to just ignore his presence for the most part not even bothering with the cold glares on a few occasions. Only a few still exchanged harsh comments when he walked by them, more and more treated him like he simply didn't exist.

_Ah so wonderful, first emotional abuse from the glares, words and actions, now for the second part they treat like I'm not even worth their scorn and hatred, truly the will of fire is as great as before_. He cast a look at the Hokage Monument. _What would you say to what your village has become, would any of you agree with this?_ He looked at the monument for several moments._ No answer, I doubt any of you will ever speak up about it. _He cast one glance at the monument before leaving._ Silence does speak more that a thousand words you know? _

_Maybe time heals all wounds or perhaps because of my supposed failure at the academy that the gracious people have decided to change their attitude towards me. _

"Ano don't you have any fresh fish Onishi-san?"

"No" the man shook his head. "I doubt that you'll find any in Konoha either."

He used his most innocent voice. "Huh, why?"

The man shrugged. "Some scandal about the tuna and fish coming into the country from the favorite supplier."

_Interesting._ "What?"

The man reconsidered his words. "Someone was selling some bad fish, and they had to take most of it off the market."

_So what was left had a question mark over its head, the small trusted suppliers probably had a field day with this. _"Is bad fish that bad for you?"

The man rolled his eyes. "Yep, people can get really sick, some already have."

"Here in Konoha?" he asked surprised, he wasn't faking it either.

"No yet, but outside of it, we heard about the trouble and got around to taking some safety measure, so we're safe here, thank the spirits for that."

_A religious man huh? Heh who would want to get people who can slice your throat while you blink sick? If its one thing about the number of shinobi spread out the country it's that they can send word back in case something like this ever happens. _

"Ah thanks then mister." He smiled and waved at the man as he left the shop. _Even the civilians are brainwashed, he thinks that just because this is a ninja village that people are safer here? Do they really think that everything is sunshine and daisies here? The Kyuubi attack happened only a few years ago, do they really think that nothing similar will occur in the future? _

* * *

><p>Onishi watched the boy exist his shop and wiped his forehead, the meeting had gone as well as it could have given the circumstances. <em>Takeno was right about the kid, innocent and a bit on the stupid side, but with political ties that could hurt you. <em>

He shook his head and looked after the boy through his store window. _The kid doesn't even know that the helped to crack the market here in Konoha thanks to the fall he inadvertently caused. The fall of Kobo has opened the way for others to rise, ah heck I'm sure that at least three families should be giving you discounts at their new shops now, not to mention all the other people who were more then happy to be free of that man. All for the better that the kid doesn't know what he's actually done, now where did I put that recipe for cabbage? _

* * *

><p>Katsue bit her lip as she finished grading the last papers from her class; even since her conversation with Umino Iruka she had felt conflicted with herself. Her own motivation for becoming a teacher was not as noble as his far from it actually, even after finding a new resolve to become a better teacher she thought that it would be hard to stack the two up against each other.<p>

Her nails gripped into the surface of her desk. _It's because at my heart, Im still a coward, I can't go back out into the field that would destroy me. _

She thought about Morikawa's words. _Even if I won't inspire them, I will teach them how to survive in the world, I'll do what I can to make sure they aren't cowards_. A thought struck her like lighting_. I'll have to teach them about killing. I'll have to teach Naruto about killing as well._ She felt like someone stabbed her in the chest when she thought of Naruto's smile fading away when he learned about killing_. Even so he'll survive when the time comes to face out in the field, he __won't__ be a coward. _

Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of the headmaster's secretary. "Katsue-san, the headmaster would like to see you in his office."

She nodded, and placed the papers on her desk in a neat pile before making her way towards the man's office. _What could he want to speak to me about? Did Aya-san approach him about our conversation? I haven't even filled out my request to take another class next year; that would have been a possible reason, but now?_

She stopped in front of the man's office and knocked twice before receiving permission to enter, the head master was sitting behind his desk looking through several files. The man in front of her was plump but still in good shape and had an aura of strength despite his old age, he had thick arms and a neck like a tree trunk a scar was noticeable on the left side. From what she knew that man had thought in both the second and third great shinobi wars, receiving commendations for both his actions. During the third war he had retired from active duty and taken up teaching helping to train the next generation, chances were that some of present jounins had been his students while in the academy.

"Ah Miwa-san please have a seat."

"Thank you sir." She sat down one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"It says here" he raised the file he was reading slightly higher "you've doing a good job with your current class, a very good job."

She caught the accent he had placed on the last words_. Is he suspicious of something? I don't have any clan children in my current class, so I can't be seen as favoring them to gain some sort of future support._ "I'm only doing my job sir."

"That doesn't include creating that study group you currently have."

_Is this what it's about? I had thought I had jumped through all the burning hops already. During war time a lot of the students were spat out quickly and everyone had to be taught equally. I only joined the academy when the war was coming to a close so I didn't get the full brunt of the treatment. He could be resentful that I'm teaching a group more then the rest of the class. _She kept her tone respectful when she answered. "Well sir the children wanted to learn, who was I to deny them?"

"Are you saying the others aren't willing?"

"Not everybody has the same desire sir."

"True, that is important;" the man looked through the file again before returning his gaze to her "won't they be too far ahead of their peers, won't it look like favoritism?"

_Was I right? Is this what he thinks?_ "While they are more skilled than their piers, it is only because of their hard work, I haven't taught them anything advanced. I worked on what they already knew and helped to refine it, only then did I aid them in branching out all the while keeping a careful eye on what they were studying."

"I see." The man placed the file down and tapped his fingers on the desk while looking at her, she felt like she being studied, like someone was trying to find some crack in a wall. "I don't thing you actually understand what this meeting is about."

_What is this about?_ "Sir?"

"I looked through your file" here he tapped one the files "your inclusion into the program wasn't exactly normal, you haven't been a teacher for very long now, it says here that you've taught classes, from the first year to the last but you've never taken a class from the start to finish, rather normal results in regards to your teaching, still all that changed this year. What exactly happened?" The man's eyes now felt like they were burrowing into her.

A small bead of sweat ran down the back of her neck, she could say her actual reason for her change it needed to be something else. _Think of something, think of something, damn it._ "It happened after teaching my last class."

"Oh?" the man relaxed into his chair, his gaze lost some of its fierce intensity and took on a curious one instead.

Time to make it good, I'm playing by the skin of my teeth. "A lot of those children were better off not being shinobi, they wouldn't have lasted long on the field and they treated their training like a joke." She bowed her head down for a moment hoping to help convince the headmaster. "I've seen people die out on the field because they didn't take their training seriously, and I remembered how some former students didn't make it back home." She wasn't aware of it but a fire had crept into her voice. "I want to change that, I want to make sure these children are ready for the world when they leave the academy. When I saw how hard the children worked I wanted to do more with them, I know they'll make great shinobi but I want to make that they'll stay great shinobi for more many years to come." What she had said wasn't a complete lie she knew, the truth had merely been stretched.

"Hmm." The headmaster rubbed his chin and looked thoughtful. "A lot will depend on their jounin sensei."

"I've seen the basics save a persons life more often than not."

"True, very true, still don't you think you're being unfair to the rest of your students?"

_Still going on that angle? Ok I can deal with it._ "It's not a guarantee that they will all become shinobi; we've seen that before, my last class is a good example of this, all I'm doing is focusing on those with higher chance of becoming shinobi. I will not slack off with the others as well, just because I'm helping the children in the study group that doesn't mean that I'll sacrifice the rest."

"Hmm. Well that's good, the reason I called you here is regarding your class for next year."

"Sir?" _What does he mean?_

"You see the children in your little study have some of the best grades in the current academy cycle, even those outside of it are doing marginally better then the rest, it's very impressive. After having this little conversation, I'm convinced I've made the right choice; I want to be one of the teachers for the second year's elite class."

Her mouth opened and closed several times before she spoke. "What?"

"Yes you heard me right; look at it this way now you will be able to teach all of the students with potential."

She recomposed herself and tried to find a reason to turn down the offer. "I'm honored sir, but I don't think I've earned the right, you yourself have stated that I am rather young, I haven't been a teacher for very long either. Surely there must be others more qualified then myself." _I won't be able to teach Naruto next year if you do this. _

"Older, certainly, more qualified, perhaps, but with the same desire? No, there aren't many like that."

"I…sir…I don't know what to say."

"Thank you is sufficed."

She could almost hear the unspoken words. _I'm taking a risk so don't disappointment me._

_Best to see if I can get something while I'm still here._ "Sir, I have heard rumors going around the academy, its about the elite class for the new academic cycle."

"Ah that class, yes, considering the number of clan children, new faces will taking on that class."

"New faces sir?"

"A yes" the pulled out another file from a stack on his desk "here Umino Iruka."

_What?!_ She was silent for a moment letting the words sinking. "I…sir he's even younger that I am."

The headmaster nodded. "The Hokage wanted some new faces, and Iruka seems like the right man for the job." Judging by his expression it looked like he wanted to say much more. _My hand may have been forced on the matter. _

_It makes sense they know each, the Hokage must trust him a lot for this. Iruka talked about the Will of Fire maybe the Hokage thinks that Iruka will be able to instill the Will into the younger generation._

"I do believe some fresh blood needs to be pumped into the system, and I'm doing just that. Dismissed."

She walked in a sort of trance out of the headmaster's office not even realizing when she had sat down at her desk. Realization of another matter altogether struck her soon enough. _Huh I went from making the group as a way to help Naruto then accidentally to Tenten to being more or less promoted because of it._

Katsue felt that there was something more then what she had just been told. _Why do I feel like I'm being used as a piece on a shogi board? The tone used by the headmaster, is he in some sort of battle with the Hokage? If the Hokage is pushing certain people into positions or favoring them is the headmaster using me and others as his own pawns to match the Hokage's movements? _

_Maybe it's my imagination, still there maybe something else there. Damn it, now I won't be able to teach Naruto next year, worse Iruka may end up teaching him and with the loss of his parents Iruka may discriminate him. Or oh_! She could see the shogi board in front of her with the pieces moving of their own volition.

_The Hokage could actually be working to have Iruka befriend Naruto and create more bonds, he knows Iruka quit well and knows Naruto as well; the both of them are similar to a small degree. And and and oh, the headmaster is getting on with his age, if Iruka can safely guide the class then he would gain quite a lot of prestige and pull in the future, enough perhaps to gain the position himself. With Iruka's beliefs the Hokage can trust him with the position_. Her breath hitched up, she leaned towards her desk and grabbed her chest.

_This …. Did the Hokage plan this? Could this just be an accident? The question comes down to why would I be against this? The Hokage would be doing the right thing for the village, wouldn't he? Why don't I like this idea? And why would the headmaster think I would make a good pawn in his game with the Hokage? _

* * *

><p>Her vision had gotten blurry now, her head felt swollen and she wobbled as she walked taking one slow step after the other. Her red hair now had a brown shine to it, it clung to her head and face, she couldn't remember when she had last washed.<p>

The last year had been a never ending nightmare for her; she had hoped to follow her family to the grave after their death however life would not leave her. The villagers had ostracized her fearing that she could still be carrying the disease that took her family, some thought that she was an ill omen and that no one should help her lest they attract misfortune upon themselves.

Either way most people had refused to have anything to do with her, people that had smiled and treated her kindly would turn their backs upon seeing her. She still wasn't sure how she survived on her own for the last year, with her family dead, she scrapped by as best she could. A very few people had turned a blind eye to her going through their garbage to find something to eat and stealing bits of their crops to feed herself, others had been less then accepting of such a thing.

The last ounces of strength finally left her as she collapsed her body hitting the ground, red hot searing pain filled every inch of her body, she let out a pathetic cough as her vision darkened. No one was going to help her, they would move her corps with sticks and burn miles away if not on the spot where she fell in the village. _Why? This isn't fair! Why won't someone help me? _She could feel tears streaming down her face. _At least I'll be able to see everybody now. _

She was ready to be swallowed by the darkness before something caught her attention slowly but steadily she felt new warmth as it spread through her body making the pain disappear_. I guess I'm really dyeing._ She could feel the warmth spreading from above her chest and stomach. _Why do I still feel that? P_ainstakingly she opened her eyes, her vision was still blurred but she could make out a woman. _Is she helping m_e? One word echoed in her mind. _Why?_

Even with her blurry vision she could make out the woman's features, shoulder length black hair with bangs that covered her ears and framed her face, black eyes, fair skin. The woman wore a long bluish-black kimono with white trimmings, held closed by a white obi, and open-toed sandals with low heels.

The woman gave a smile filled with warmth, one that she hadn't received since her own mother died. "Don't worry you'll be fine." After all the hardships she had been through in the last year and accepting that she would die to find herself now rescued she did the only thing she could and burst into tears.

* * *

><p>Eiji dipped a slice of lemon into his tea cup before taking another sip, he never could understand how some people drank coffee in the morning, personally he preferred tea, black especially, <em>once the Land of Sea if firmly under Tea's boot we will see about their exports of coffee,<em> he cast his gaze into the flames of the fire place. The morning mist had not risen yet and the entire city was covered with it, the guards were running about, patrolling the streets to ensure order was kept; this was the perfect time for something illegal to take place.

His own meeting was of a similar nature, while not illegal in of itself; the subject involved was most illegal and could get him hanged if discovered.

_And things are going so well, all that's needed is for this piece to fall into place._ He was sure that fate was on his side; the small successes he had obtained were building a chain that would lead to his ultimate victory. A more recent occurrence was that a ninja clan had joined him, even better they had done so in secret, and he now had power over them.

_The clan can aid in vetting the other ninja in the future and can help in training others, Tea should have its own born and breed shinobi, even if it takes generations for such a thing, slowly the outsiders will be absorbed into the greater force. A shame that I need to rely on such people, however they can be useful, and in my hands I shall mold them into the force Tea needs to win an empire. _

His friend and fellow conspirator Taido Kida had helped to arrange a series of meetings between himself and his target, subtly using various social occasions as a way to aid in building the image needed to a future influential man and an eventual a future ruler.

_Enko is starting to take notice of me, my own reputation is good, and Taido is making sure that my image is growing. I wonder how many can guess of his role as my spy master? A friendly attitude as his own, the servants are too eager to spill to secrets of their masters, a party there, and here, a small gossip. All that is taken into account, investigated, turned over a thousand times before deciding if it can be used in the greater plan. His attitude my hide it however the man has a keen mind as very few others._

A distinctive knock at the door interrupted his thoughts, briefly his hands went to the knives hidden on his person. "Enter."

The figure was dressed in a dark coat obscuring their features, though after such a long time together he recognized the woman.

"Well Anzu?"

The woman revealed her feminine facial features, her brown shoulder-length hair was wet and looked unkempt, beads of sweat ran down her forehead. "The deal is done, Red Hand has agreed to every condition."

"Good." _Now for the price of a few merchant ships as sacrifices, the pirate shall strike at my opponents slowly bleeding them dry. With my own resources and Taido's web of informants we will be able to make the most of this deal. Just a bit longer until the country is mine. _

* * *

><p>A man with spiky light blue hair and a blue eyes wearing the standard shinobi outfit of Konoha with his sleeves rolled up flak jacket and a forehead protector on a long band tapered off was walking across the full lenght of his room, walking on the ceiling he jumped down and took a seat at his desk.<p>

Sabiru chewed on his hair tip as his eyes wandered over the note he had found in his apartment telling him that they had to meet. _This isn't the way we get into contact._

The letter said that they had admired his work in disposing of the ANBU agent he had defeated and of the man's family. They mentioned how they knew he already worked for someone and wanted him to work for them as well; the letter had a small map of a meeting place where he would receive another letter from an all too familiar face.

_It can't be someone from Konoha if they even suspected I was behind that disappearance, never mind my own project and position I would be down in the Torture and Interrogation division getting my skin peeled off while a Yamaka reduced me to a vegetable going through my mind, even with Konoha's more forgiving attitude there's no way I'd make it out in one piece. _

He swallowed heavily, his stomach felt filled with ice. _There's a small chance that it could be a test from lord Orochimaru, even that is far fetched I'm important because of my project, and if he thought that I would endanger things I'd be dead as well. No this must be another party that has operations in Konoha. _

_Given the nature of the ninja world it isn't that surprising, we managed to get a few agents into Kiri during the first great war and they stayed there until the second, I heard rumors that Suna managed to sneak a few into Konoha during the second war. Iwa exposed our spies in Kumo during the third great war and we did the same thing to them, we knew from our people in Kiri that Kumo failed to get someone in there during the second great war. _

_Now the question is who the other factions is? I doubt its Kumo, everything even related to them has come under heavy scrutiny in the last years. Suna is our ally, for how much that maters in the ninja world, and they have their own problems near the border with Iwa. _

Sabiru felt like spiting at even thinking the name of that place. _No that faction and Konoha has to much bad blood to manage to sneak a spy inside, Kiri is apparently nearing a tipping so their agents should be looking to lock things down rather then expand. It could be none of the other big villages or it could be either one of them._ He looked at a map of the continent in his room. I'm being foolish if I don't consider the minor villages.

_Rain is in lock down and I haven't heard much about them having a lot of spies, perhaps Taki or Kusa, the other villages would be far beneath me, on the other hand if they managed to sneak someone inside maybe they have some talent in their ranks, and in the end their money is just as good as anyone else. _

_Fine then, I'll go to this meeting and if it doesn't pan out I'll just kill them all right there, they assaulted trying to get the new security measures I was working on and I managed to fight them off, heh perfect, maybe I'll still go with this plan._

* * *

><p>Sabiru felt a chill from the night wind. <em>Damn, when the heck will he get here?<em> He was looking at the meeting point hidden in a tree a few paces away waiting for the person he was supposed to meet to appear. _What does a familiar face even mean? Is it someone I know? Could someone else be a spy? Worst case this is all some sort of set up, how amusing would it be for the freaking Hokage to show up for the meeting. Heh, I wonder if I could take a single step before I would get caught if he showed up. _

A rustle of twigs interrupted his thoughts, look towards the source of the noise he wa a small child walking into the clearing holding a sealed _envelope. Is this kid the contact, is this a joke?_ He checked thoroughly for a henge in several failing each time. _Blond hair, tanned skin, blue eyes, how is this supposed to be familiar? Wait, whisker marks? _His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. _That can't be, the jinjuriki! _Did _someone actually manage to turn him or are they just using him? Of course it makes sense to use him, the people from Konoha know what he carries; if I slit his throat Id make myself a target for every damn shinobi in the village, not to mention I could end up staring right into the Kyuubi's face. _

_So should I just walk up to him and hope he doesn't recognize me later? Tsk if I used this information on the jinjuriki being used by other groups I'd get a good pat on the back, that would push me into a dark cell when the question arises of how I knew about it._ He checked his surroundings again to see if anyone else had followed the boy to the meeting place, he prided himself on his skills; after all he had spotted an ANBU agent and defeated him.

_Best to keep the kid under observation for now._ In the following three hours Sabiru watched as the boy moved around, examined the envelope and finally went to sleep near a tree in the clearing. _Well this is as good a time as any, I'll just sneak up and grab the envelope while his sleeping. Heh best I do it wearing Kisuke's face, just in case he wakes up._

He stealthily made his way to the sleeping boy and carefully touched the letter sliding it out of the sleeper's hand; he didn't feel the ripples in the air around him nor the other energy being released all around him. Sabiru smiled when he had the envelope in his hand, a moment later the boys eyes snapped open, he could have sworn that he was looking at the ocean staring into the boys eyes who gave him a predatory smile that sent a shiver down his spine, a feeling of dread built up in his stomach faster then he could have believed possible.

"Bye bye mister, say hello to the two of them for me, thanks. Heh, sister didn't even have to do anything."

* * *

><p>Both Yukimura and Sayaka were back in the white room drinking tea.<p>

Sayaka placed her cup on the table. "Odd, that both men knew the Shadow Clone Technique."

"True, I would have thought that it would be kept a stricter secret."

"Indeed, at least we have what he desired from him."

"Yes, the seal used to seal a soul is based on a magic after all, to think he received it as part of an inheritance from a deceased relative." Yukimura shook his part at the end, a great deal of precious knowledge had been lost over time and while some survived it was treated as unimportant.

"People must have dismissed it before as something foolish and only kept it around as an item from the old days. Perhaps they hoped to obtain power from it eventually."

"Most likely it traded hands quite a few times before arriving at a more stable owner. I have to give the man props for actually managing to discover how to use the seal."

"Indeed, he actually had an above average intellect, even a small spark there that helped him in the beginning. Sad that he let things go to his head, his skills could have been so much more had he not let them slip thinking himself some sort of genius."

Yukimura grinned. "Another Yondaime?"

"Bah, considering that ones origin he shouldn't even count."

"With this we now have more to train the children with, whether he was worthy of holding the rank of jounin or not, his mind held enough useful information."

"And the flesh?" she sent a quick glance to the drooling man on his knees in the room with them.

"I will dispose of it after this."

She hummed in agreement. "Now to see how we will change the children's training. I have so many new ideas."

Both Naruto and Tenten shivered at the same time knowing that something unpleasant lay in store for them in the future.

* * *

><p>Shuichi Tao took another bottle from the shelf and drank from it, the liquid flowing down his throat leaving a pleasant burning sensation, he loved the feeling. The only joy and pleasure he had nowadays was drinking, worse were the approaching days that were filled with meaning for him. His retreat into the bottles were always his salvation, they had helped in the past, were doing it now and would do so in the future.<p>

The money he had from his business was slowly drying up, and he has beginning to feel the sting of things more acutely these days, even with his recent new tenant it paled in comparison to better times_. _

_Damn it, the place flourished after the Kyuubi attack, it got out unscaved, if only the kid wasn't sent here, people would still be renting. If I kick him out or make his life hard the Hokage will turn his eyes on me and that's the last thing I need. I barely dodged the Hokage the first time around. _

He looked at the picture he had place face down on the shelf; attentively he picked up the photo and gazed at it, tears running down his face. _Why did you have to be so stupid?_

He felt nails digging into the flesh of his face, a suave voice spoke from behind him, he couldn't tell whether it was from a man or a woman. "Don't worry; your pain is at an end."

Nobody heard his screams.

* * *

><p><em>Ashes to ashes and dust to dust<em>. Kaguya watched as her parents bodies burned in the large funeral pyre. _The earth is unworthy of housing the bodies of our bloodline, no worms shall feed on their corpses make to mistake of it_. Her uncle had spoken those exact words to her a day after her mother and father had died, everything had felt like passing moments since then, she couldn't remember eating much in those days even with old Nishida pleading, had it been days or weeks? She wasn't sure, everything had been happening so fast, seeing so many of her relatives, all of them with somber faces and dressed in black.

She had overheard her family members fighting about her, on what would become of her and her lands now that her parents were dead. What would become of her? Kalen had told her something that she overheard while making her way through the house and talking to the servants. Her family's lands would be broken up into smaller pieces and would be managed by other family members while she herself would be sent off to live with a relative of her mothers. There was talk of some sort or arranged marriage, but no one could settle on who she would wed, everyone seemed to have someone they were putting forth. She still didn't know if the idea was discarded or just kept for a later date.

Besides her Ryosei looked like a statue, unmoving, unflinching, in the months following their meeting she had come to enjoy the feeling of having her nearby, a constant guardian.

Kalen squeezed her hand as they both looked at the flames from the pyre, now that relationship had been different, Kalen looked like she could barely stomach being around her at first, she had shown her discomfort but had never spoken it out loud, always biting her tongue on the matter. Now the girl looked worried for her, _Is it pity? Did she lose her family as well?_ She was thankful for their presence now when everything felt so cold.

She shivered for a moment when a wind blew lifting the fallen leaves off the ground, for a brief moment it gave the appearance of a rain of leaves. _In the autumn it is said that the reason why leaves fall down from the branch is to make way for new leaves to grow. No matter how sad the fallen leaves look, there will always be new sprouts in the spring. Perhaps, emptiness in the heart is something similar to that._

* * *

><p><em>Ah, I'm getting to old for this.<em> The day had started out as usual, he had shave in the mirror that he had hanged in the living room, his wife had made breakfast while he washed up. The woman was just as bright and happy at the crack of dawn as she was in the middle of the night. They would open the windows of their home small breathing in the fresh morning air, and hear the how everything started to come to life.

They had bought the apartment next to their own and were working to merge the two into a single one. He had kissed his wife and left for work like always, everything had been normal until noon when everything went down the drain and drowned in a sea of shit. "Well."

The woman wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead, the hallway were the crime scene was located had been partially sealed off with larger pieces of material. "It's just as the information said sir, looking at the close stairwell, there's a body there and preliminary analysis matches the information in the letter."

"Wonderful, alright continue I'll report to Hokage-sama."

The woman sent him a sorrowful look and he gave her a brisk nod before leaving. Yes it was never good when you had to report bad news to Hokage. All the mess had started because of a man who had hanged himself, that in of itself wasn't a big deal he had however left a lengthy letter that had caused quite a stir because of its contents.

The trip to the Hokage tower felt like he was walking to the deepest pits of the afterlife, the night air was cold and Konoha has a dark atmosphere around itself, the buildings looked ominous. He felt like something would leap out of the shadows at any moment, was he being paranoid?

Probably, but just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't someone in the shadows ready to kill you, that was something you understood as a shinobi. This was different though, he tried to shrug it off however he simply couldn't succeed; he had grown up in Konoha and knew the locations however something just felt wrong now. He realized that it was concerning the report he would give in a few short minutes that caused his fear.

Upon reaching the Hokage tower he looked up at the building, it seemed to go on endlessly into the sky; he took a deep breath before he entered the place. The guards let him pass after a brief look; he knocked once at the door to the Hokage's office before being allowed to enter.

Seeing the look on the Hokage's face made him shiver, while he normally had a grandfatherly aura people forgot that this was the man who had rained death upon his enemies, who had lead the village through the three great shinobi wars.

"Report!"

The voice made him stand even straighter if it was possible. "The information regarding the body appears to be accurate my lord, further analyses will be needed to be completely positive."

"I see."

He was sure that if he jumped in frozen lake it would have still been warmer that the Hokage's tone.

"Start with the beginning."

"Yesterday" he tried to keep his face as neutral as possible at the name, "Naruto Uzumaki approached his landlords room concerning the lack of hot water, after knocking at the door for several minutes he left, he noted however a strange smell coming from the apartment. After several attempts in which he was unsuccessful he approached another Katsue Miwa, who is renting an apartment on the same floor as Uzumaki."

He cleared his throat before continuing. "The woman after knocking and detecting the smell approached the proper authorities fearing the worst case scenario. Once the door was opened, one Shuichi Tao was found dead within the premise, he had hanged himself. While that in of itself was of no seemingly great importance, the letter he left behind is what has caused great concern and the case was passed further up. I must state that so far no Yamanaka clan member was been successful in obtaining any information from the man's head, the brain damage caused by the hanging was to severe."

"We have compiled a file on Shuichi Tao after reading the letter, he was born in Konoha a few years before the start of the second great shinobi war; his parents fled the Land of Honey after a regime change and came here."

"Yes I do remember his father, go on."

_So this could be personal for him_. "Both of his parents were merchants who used their savings to open a new shop here, later his father bought a parchment of land where he built the apartment complex. The shop was sold once the wife died during a Kumo raid on a merchant caravan, Shuichi inherited the complex once his father passed away. Our records show that he met his wife, Mikazuki Tani, who was a refugee that fled from Claw country and arrived in Konoha. One year into their marriage their daughter Amari was born, sons Kenkichi and Takamuku were born two years apart after that respectively. A year later the couple separated when Shuichi accused Mikazuki of infidelity. She moved away from the house, taking her sons but leaving the daughter behind whom according to the letter soon became the victim of an incestuous relationship with her father."

While he himself was scowling with disgust the Hokage's face betrayed no visible emotion. _I wonder if he's seen anything like this before. _

"The woman later moved away to the Land of Forests with her new lover a traveling merchant, out of the two sons Takamuku went with her, while the other one Kenichi died shortly after becoming a genin."

"The man remarried with Yoshike Yamada, a married woman with two children, son Shizue and daughter Yori, he seduced the woman, who according to her then-husband, eloped with Shuichi. She also left him and moved to another country with all of their children a few years later taking a sizable part of the man's money with her. At least that is what we believed until we read the letter and verified things again."

"The disappearances began first with wife, the truth is that the man in what he described a fit of good luck managed to kill his son, ex-wife and her new lover, the exact circumstances of why the three remained in Konoha while their own caravan joined the trade caravans leaving Konoha are unclear. We know that it was attacked and most of the people in it died, many of the bodies were never identified. Who exactly Shuichi knew about the three remaining in Konoha, their location and the attack on the caravan is unknown, he described it as hearing rumors about the attack and hearing about them remaining behind when he spied on them."

"A similar fate befell the second wife, who discovered the man's incestuous relationship with his daughter, the woman and her children were killed by Shuichi and his first daughter. Shuichi claimed that Amari killed her step mother by herself while he killed the two children. A year later Amari wanted to confess their crimes and Shuichi killed her burying her body in the apartment building staircase."

"The modus operandi presented by him was, in two cases, murder with an axe, and head trauma caused by a heavy blunt object. The corpses were then dismembered, partly dissolved in acid in the basement, and partly taken to a local abattoir, who went out of the business years ago after the owner died, his daughter perished in the third war."

"The only people to discover this according to the letter where enemy spies who latter blackmailed the man into acting as an agent, using his building as a meeting place and to swap letters. He mentioned how he was afraid of the person who approached him a few months ago and forced him to be a spy for someone else. The only agent of this person he ever met was Sabiru Fujimura, the other person he mentioned as a spy he was informed about is Tatsuya Nakao, a mail clerk who is being currently interrogated by Ibiki Morino."

"Shuichi confessed that that Sabiru Fujimura was uncovered as a spy by an ANBU member, the now deceased, Kisuke Maboroshi, who stopped him from meeting and unidentified contact who he was supposed to deliver and important package. Maboroshi battled Sabiru however he was defeated, by thanks of his superior skills, or at least that is what Sabiru claimed. Shuichi aided Sabiru in later killing Maboroshi's wife and burning down their house. Sabiru himself killed Maboroshi, who was left comatose after the battle. Shuichi mentioned how Sabiru had gotten increasingly paranoid and was afraid of his employer's reaction when word finally reached him of the incident with Maboroshi."

"The exact identity of the employer is unknown; Sabiru only mentioned that there were worse fates than death if the man was displeased. Over the years the guilt, Shuichi confessed had eaten away at him and had resorted to alcohol to help continue with his life. The added stress of everything alongside the approaching what he called anniversary of his family's murder, finally drove Shuichi over the edge and he decided to commit suicide."

"In his will Tao left everything to Naruto Uzumaki, who after seeing the boy he described as innocent and not a monster like he himself was and that perhaps this will aid him in building a better future for himself."

"We know that Sabiru was working on a new security system for Konoha and disappeared recently, we had no exact information on what could have happened to him, he appeared to have been swallowed by the earth itself, now we believe he was killed by his employer who discovered the incident with the Maboroshi. Sabiru's new system wasn't finished and thus not even the basics parts where put into place, we still don't know what documents and plans we looked over." He felt his throat parched after speaking for so long and uninterrupted.

The Hokage seemed to contemplate matters for only the briefest of moments before making a decision. "I see, Sabiru's name shall be wiped from the funerary stone, he is unworthy of such and honor. What of the building?"

"It is in good condition, it currently has only three tenants, Katsue Miwa, Naruto Uzumaki and Tsuramatsu Machida, a recent tenant. When questioned Miwa stated that she moved there because the rent was far cheaper then her old apartment, according to her was filled of memories she wished to leave behind. The other tenant is a farmer who recently obtained a book deal and wanted an apartment in Konoha for meetings with the publisher and another place to work on his writings. The crime scenes is currently sealed off, once the body is removed we will…"

The Hokage cut in. "Contact someone to open the stairway."

He nodded. "Of course Hokage-sama."

"And ensure that the people know to keep silent on the issue."

He bowed slightly. "Yes my lord, what of the ownership of the building?"

The Hokage waved him off. "I will handle that issue."

* * *

><p>"Just a bit more and" she cut off the last bit of hair she has holding "done!" Tenten placed the scissors on the table near her.<p>

"Thanks, let's finish you as well."

Tenten took Naruto's place on the chair and had the small blanket wrapped around her, making sure to cover her body.

"The usual?" Naruto asked running a hand through her hair and taking hold of the scissors.

"Yep." The two had started cutting each others hair a short time after they started living together, at first they practiced in the god realm before finally attempting the feat in the real world as well. "So another year has passed."

"Yeah." Naruto let out and exasperated breath as he worked cutting her hair.

"Things are going to be different from now on."

Naruto stopped for a moment and chuckled before resuming his work. "I'm actually going to take the academy serious this time around."

"Katsue will be glad to hear that."

Naruto rolled his eyes as he cut more of his sister's hair. "Uh, don't remind me, she was so upset when I flunked out the second time around."

"At least your excuse of being lonely worked on her."

"Guilt trip always seems to work on her."

"Best not to use that too often."

"Oh fine, I wasn't going to either. Besides do we really need her now that they have more knowledge on chakra?

"Knowledge yes, but experience using it, not so much, they still need time to see how some of the other skills they know will work with chakra."

"Those chakra exercises worked well enough."

"True." She hesitated for a moment. "Does it bother you on how they got the knowledge?"

"No, the guy was scum, he was a spy, he killed at least one innocent person, I don't care what they did to him. Why do you care?"

She fiddled for a moment. "No, actually I don't care, it's just… shouldn't I care?"

"Beats me, all done, come one, we should wash up."

"And get ready to go up the rooftop."

"Meh, I was hoping to skip that and go right to bed."

"We promised Naru!"

"I rather spend it with our real family then her."

She crossed her arms looking and leveled a steel gaze at him. "We're going and that's the end of it."

_I can't really win when she's like this._ "Fine!"

An hour later after the two had washed up and gotten dressed came the expected knock at the door.

Katsue was in casual cloths with a thick black jacket over her. "Are you two ready?"

"Hai sensei!"

"Great, I have snacks; make sure to take a blanket with you."

The three left the apartment quick enough making their way to the rooftop, the cold air felt like needles hitting their faces, the cold felt like it was trying to burrow into their bodies.

Katsue smiled as she laid down a blanket for them. "This feels like a tradition now."

Naruto looked at her confused for a moment. "Huh, oh because of last year right?"

"Yes, are you alright Naruto? You don't sound like your normal self."

"I'm just a bit sleepy that's all." He yawned and rubbed his eyes to emphasize the point.

"We could go back if you want."

Tenten cut in send her brother a look. "No its fine, Naru is just being a baby, he'll go to bed after the show."

Naruto nodded. "Hey it's already started!"

"Not yet, its still ten minutes away, this is just people acting a little bit too early." She opened a thermos taking a quick of its contents. The three sat in relative silence for the next minutes until the fireworks began in full force. "And there it is!"

The light show was probably impressive by other standards, there were streaks and flashes of blue, red, green and a host of other coolers as well followed by an explosion, for Naruto it seemed dull, after seeing the one Yukimura and Sayaka recreated last year it just looked sub par to him.

"Happy new year children."

"Happy new year sensei!"

Naruto smiled as he lifted a fist towards the moon. "I think this year is going to be kick ass!

Katsue chuckled. _Well I guess the night air invigorated him._ "Oh? Sounds like someone's excited."

Naruto widened his smile as he looked at the sky. "You bet sensei, what could possibly go wrong?"

* * *

><p>Its hoved feet tapped against the stones as it made its way through the forests, the creature forced its own small pudgy body to move with all the speed and stealth it could muster. Since hearing the sound the creature had made haste to make its way to the source of it, even with the beautiful sound still ringing in its head, there was a needed to be careful, humans were everywhere now a day, avoiding them was in of itself a challenge.<p>

The roads the humans had built were swarming with them, if it was seen by humans, warriors would relentlessly pursue after it until what little life was left in its body would be extinguished. So it stuck to the shadows, the forests, and moved at night under the cover of darkness.

When it first heard the noise the creature had been asleep in its burrow buried deep in a forest under a destroyed shrine, the slumber that held it was broken when the sound reached it, the sound was like a song that continuously repeated itself.

It was the song that only one being could create, a demon lord, something that all the demon remnants thought were extinct, now they knew different, one had survived the wars, wheter it was sleeping or sealed hardly mattered they would find their ruler.

Already others had begun to stir as well, all making their way in secret towards the source of the song, they would have someone to lead them again, someone who would wage war to reclaim lost land, to slay the humans who had cut their numbers down and forced them into hiding. A new dawn was fast approaching for the demon kin and the cold night awaited the humans.

* * *

><p>I personally like the Katsue part; it however didn't originally have the Iruka part. Still wasn't the Hokage ever so slightly manipulating things?<p>

- Added an extra scene to chapter 5 with Naruto

- Made revisions to chapter 6 – specifically the dialogue at the Hokage Monument.

- Added an extra scene to chapter 7

- Made changes to the end of chapter 11


	14. Chapter 14 : Year Three part I

**I do not own Naruto**

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – normal thoughts  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><em><strong>Listen<strong>_** – biju, higher being thoughts**

**Chapter 14 : Year Three part I **

_Ah what a nice day to kick start the new academy year_. Naruto looked around himself; this was amusingly his third first day. _I wonder, shouldn't I get an award for this performance? Failing twice and still coming back for more, _he chuckled dryly_; maybe they think I'm a glutton for punishment or just that stupid. _

He could see a lot more parents with their children this time around then before. _Naturally some of them are clan members, the others would want to show just how good and trustworthy they and their children are._ He could see his friends Chouji and Yakumo in the crowd, Yakumo with her uncle and Chouji with his parents. Naruto took note that while Chouji resembled his father physically he had more of his mother's face, the woman to his surprise had an eight shaped figure; personally he had expected her to be more on the heavy side.

The surprise that Chouji was a clan heir had been a pleasant if unexpected one, his acting lessons had been the only thing that kept the joyful smile of his face, things would be a lot easier with Chouji's position in the clan. Of course knowing Chouji also brought acquaintances in other clans as well, while the Nara clan heir looked like a slacker, his mind proved he was anything but that.

Naruto had to smack himself he had showed more of his hand during their first meeting then he had intended, he had since corrected that in latter meetings that where far fewer, Shikamaru had some sort of important family matter that kept him occupied for most of the time.

He had only once met the Yamanaka heiress as well though the time was short and he wasn't able to gauge her personality, the little there was at such a young age, in that time. Chouji's father he had later learned had formed a successful team with the current clan heads of the Nara and Yamanaka during the last great shinobi war and were still good friends.

Apparently the three clans had formed teams through out the years, however not all of them proved to be successful; the success of their team seemed to enforce the old belief of how strong they could be together. The families of the three still met on occasions, time in which the three children played together, he believed that the parents were hoping for their children to form a new successful team as well.

Naruto looked through the crowed to spot any other potential classmate, his eyes stopped at the people he considered to be the Aburame clan members, he could see a small boy there however he couldn't see the faces of any clan member because of their high colored shirts which obscured their faces up to their noses and the sunglasses each wore that hid their eyes. _They looked to be a quiet bunch that's for sure, I'll try to approach the boy later._

His eyes kept drifting spotting members of the Hyuuga clan, he noted how the people there didn't look like a family and the atmosphere from what he could see was more formal. The girl in the middle of the group looked nervous, more then that actually, though he couldn't quite place it. _Is she afraid of something?_ He spotted the Hyuuga clan member that was in his sister's year not far from the girl_. Is she important to the clan? The heiress perhaps? I definitely have to take note of that. _

Naruto placed a hand of his mouth and lowered his head to hide his amusement at that he had seen, their in the crowd was a person with pink hair. _Oh sister will love this, a person with actual pink hair! _He looked at the people with the girl, he assumed that they were her parents; the woman had dark blond hair while the man had pink hair with a very strange hair style. _Well both I and sister had some odd haired people in our year, this though is up in my top ten, and pink on top of things. The only time I would ever feel threatened by a person if they were trained by something like a dragon, but what are the chances of that happening? _

Another group his eyes rested raised alarm bells in his head, they were a group of four, an older couple, the parents he figured and two boys, one was his own age, while the other looked a few years older. The way that other boy held himself spoke volumes, he reminded Naruto of some of the stronger opponents he had faced in the god realm and he came to a quick conclusion. _He's dangerous!_

Compared to him the other boy who he assumed was the younger brother looked perfectly harmless. Naruto tilted his head noticing something odd about the boy's hair. _Is that a chicken or a duck there? Ha, I don't have the oddest hairstyle in the class any more, Shikamaru you've been replaced. _

He could tell by their looks that the four belonged to the Uchiha clan, after seeing the police force members for so long he could recognize certain traits of the that clan, he had made it a point to keep some distance from the clan after hearing Yukimura's words about them.

While the young boy seemed happy and excited to be here the father looked impassive, Naruto could see a myriad of emotions playing on the man's face, pride, joy, anger. As he looked around some people seemed to send odd looks at the Uchiha, the same looks the police forced would get, Naruto still didn't know why exactly that was. His own theory after hearing the way Yukimura spoke about the clan was that the two had history and with the Kyuubi attack on Konoha, some suspected the clan of being involved somehow.

The older brother seemed happy and was talking with his younger sibling, he ignored the odd looks tossed the families way, the last person in the group was what he assumed was the mother, a woman with pale skin, and long black hair dressed in black clothing as the rest of her family. His eyes widened as he noticed that the woman was looking at him and scowling.

_What's her problem?_ A quick glance proved that she really was looking at him, he knew that he should ignore it or act meek and appear hurt by the look however in that moment he didn't care about that, he scowled back her with all the intensity he could muster and felt a warm feeling when the woman flinched back.

He looked back towards his new teachers, if the woman scowled at him again he didn't care, he doubted they would try anything against him in the middle of the academy yard, he may be hated but their clan who was most likely in bad spot trying anything unprovoked against him could be seen as something far worse for them.

His new teachers looked very young compared to the others from his previous cycles, one of them with brown hair and a cut across his face actually appeared enthusiastic for some reason, the both of them had a look of subdued disdain when they looked at him. _Naturally, well ok then. _He grinned looking at the two and chuckled. _I'm actually going to fight back so bring it!_

A comforting feeling on his shoulders snapped him back to the moment, it told him that his own family was present as well, he smiled, things could finally start getting more serious now at long last, he did partially regretted it, he wouldn't have nearly as much free time as before. His thieving time had already been cut drastically short and now would inevitably shrink even further, perhaps even eliminated altogether. _Well probably not._

Naruto heard how the teachers were calling their future classes to them. _Heh so let's see about this first day then, I do have a reputation amongst the academy staff that I have to maintain or build up entirely from scratch with the new teachers. And I do have to make a good impression with my new classmates. _

* * *

><p>Further away from the academy courtyard s group of children looked towards the mass of first years students from under a tree, one of the boys tugged his dark blue shirt from around his neck. "Wah would you look at that, can you believe we were so young before?"<p>

The girl next to him, Sora, gave him an exasperated look. "That was us last year Tai, we aren't that old."

He grinned at the girl. "You know what I meant; we're second year now and in the hot shot class as well."

She cocked her head to the side. "How do you figure?"

"Well we got placed in the same class as Tenten and I doubt that she would get thrown into some second hand class."

Another boy, Koushiro, shorter then the rest of the group joined the conversation peering up from his book. "She would if someone had a grudge against her or her spot was desired by someone with connections."

"Ah come on no one would do that, were Konoha, you know the good guys."

Tenten rolled her eyes at that, good guys indeed, Tai had been at the orphanage before her and knew the conditions there or at least should have remembered them, both he and his baby sister had been adopted by a shinobi couple and from what she could saw had been in part indoctrinated by them either purposely or as a side effect of living with them. "We are in the best class however that doesn't mean that we will stay here until the end, someone can take our place very easily. Remember the wolf at the top of the mountain isn't as hungry as the one at the bottom; the students in the other class are going to try to get a place here. If we want to stay here we have to earn it, we have to prove that we deserve it."

"How?"

"How else?" She smiled at him. "Back to training."

"Ohh I knew you were going to say that." He slammed a fist right fist into his own left palm "Heh I can't wait for the challenge."

Tenten grinned. "Great you'll be my first and most frequent sparing partner."

The boy palled several shades before a smile crept unto his face. "I….am looking forward to that, I really want to fight."

_Good._

Sora rolled her shoulders looking at the group. "Is it wrong that I missed the feeling of hard exercising?"

Koushiro closed his book looking back at them. "Not really I read that because of the reactions that take place in our bodies while exercising it can become a pleasant feeling."

"Come on lets get the others." She looked back to a specific spot in the crowd. _Stay safe brother and be careful._

* * *

><p>Homura watched as his young protégé left the room and felt pride swell in his chest, even if things were moving now, very slowly however they were moving, he was making progress in pulling Konoha back from the brink of the abyss.<p>

He lifted a stack of papers from his desk and used a small fire jutsu to burn them erasing their existence, for his plans he needed more outside allies, he had made connections during his carrier however most of those people were dead or no longer had any political or social sway. With the passage of time and his duties inside the village it became even harder to make new connections outside the village. Still allies could be found if one looked hard enough, a crisis always helped make new connections, people often got desperate during those times. 

Such was the case with the most recent crisis; the story had broken on September seventeen, fisheries inspectors had found that the fish and all products made by the countries largest group were spoiled and declared that they were unfit for human consumption. Given the owners political connections, a lot of products were still shipped before finally taking action. By that time many people had died or were gravely sick, assassination requests had started to flow in by some of the victims as did an envoy from the daimyo to not harm those people.

_Hiruzen did a good job of manipulating the daimyo into withdrawing his protection for many of the people involved, even if not all of them were placed on the chopping block. The fools also tried to push their poisoned product down Konoha's throat and hurt its people, and that is something Hiruzen would never allow or forget. _He chuckled. _Well it is fortunate for me that he didn't have success or I wouldn't have made these new connections after all. _

Despite intense national coverage for many weeks, in the end, the crisis ended up being mostly forgotten. While the daimyo's involvement in the mattered was quickly glanced over, the reputation of the surviving owner of the fishery took a large blow costing them both financially and politically.

Those not under the daimyo's protection met tragic accidents quickly enough, while those who did weren't completely safe. If the people couldn't employ Konoha shinobi to kill them they could employ other shinobi, while it would be difficult for them to sneak into the country, it wouldn't be the first time something similar occurred, and it was what he was betting on, his targets were in the perfect position for elimination.

It was a shame he knew, once the countries largest fishery it was now close to collapse with only matches and spit holding it together, hundreds upon hundreds of people would lose their livelihood when that house of cards finally collapsed.

_Just another piece of bad news in a very long string, only hearing that Kenjirou is the new heir of the country topped it. And people believed that he was a very sweet child, until the age of twelve, when the boy mutilated a pregnant cat to see the fetuses. Hearing from his father that pregnant cats had kittens in their stomachs, seemed all the reason the boy needed for his actions. _

_Any of his older brothers would have been a better choice for the title, now we must all prey that the current daimyo lives longer_. Homura looked at the map of the land of fire with its many regions. Kenjirou ruled the Kusunoura region bordering the Land of Hot springs and partially the Land of Rice Patties, since coming to power the man had started to lock the region down, keeping Konoha shinobi out of it. While Kenjirou had made friends and allies through out the country not all were willing to bend the knee to him, a few could muster a good claim to the throne as well. _More and more it seems that civil war awaits the Land of Fire in the future. _

He let out a tired breath as he looked map of country again. _Plans must be made for that as well, Hiruzen will ignore the situation claiming it as something Konoha shouldn't involve itself in. Danzo will ignore the issue as he sees the daimyo as nothing more then a puppet with some influence that can be stirred in the right direction. Only Koharu will try to do something to aid the situation, she will attempt to get everyone on an even field to negate as much of the growing influence as she can. There is truly no rest even for us elders, my plan must succeed now more then ever._

* * *

><p>Naruto tapped his fingers on the bench looking at his classmates at the moment one single important thought was going through his mind. <em>How am I going to make friends with these people if all I can think of is how easy it would be to rob them? I can see the money in some of their pockets, how easily it would be to snatch it up. This is sister's fault for not letting me rob people, I got all these bottled up instincts just screaming at me. Ah well I can't start robbing them now, I do have a reputation to think of, and I would get the blamed for the thefts regardless. <em>

He looked around the classroom again; his classmates were talking amongst themselves while the teachers were looking over some papers. Yakumo sat besides him along with someone he didn't know, Chouji had ended up sitting next to Shikamaru and the Yamanaka heiress. _Sister will probably be busy later on, hmm, he looked towards Yakumo, why not, it couldn't hurt._ He leaned towards her and whispered. "Do you want to meet up later tonight?"

She looked at him quizzically then stealing a quick glance at the teachers nodded.

_Ah smart girl, she probably thinks I'm whispering to not draw the teacher's attention, she doesn't know the half of it. Oh well it will be good to talk about the first day at the academy, or well third one for me, last year with sister was good_, he looked at Yakumo again, _she'll probably like having someone to talk about it_. Naruto turned his head when he heard one of the teachers cough loudly, the one with a scar across his face looked nervous as he was preparing to speak.

"Now students seeing as how our class will be together for many years its best if we get to know each other better, so we will begin with introductions and a bit about ourselves, your dreams for the future will do fine."

_Ah and so it comes to this, well lets see how you handle this situation. _

"I will go first to give you an example, my name is Umino Iruka and my dream is to see all of you become Konoha shinobi."

Naruto watched and listened to his classmates, no one of them seemed all that serious about their dreams, the only few who spoke with some amount of conviction were those he believed had shinobi parents, the clan children certainly proved him right.

"My name is Yakumo Kurama and I want to be a well known genjutsu master and help restore my clan." Her voice was crisp and clear being heard in the entire classroom.

_Well that's easier said then done; your clan is good at genjutsu though I don't know if they have anything else. I do have a story for you, I wonder if you will be able to actually understand what it is about? Both Yukimura and Sayaka said that I will need friends and servants in the future, I doubt you will become a servant, heck the only reason I didn't put any effort in previous years at the academy was so I can get close to heirs in this academy cycle. Maybe I can teach you something once we start sparring, I'll have to ask the two about just how much I can teach you. _

He looked at Yakumo who still had a proud smiled on her face, the girl did seem to exude confidence even for one so young, but there was more, he thought is pride because of her clan. _Speaking about the clan, I wonder if it's your desire to restore the clan or your uncle's? You can raise its reputation but restoring it would mean that you would spend a lot of time on your back, how many children could you give birth and when would even start? Trying to unite the two dreams is going to be an uphill battle; of well you'll eventually have to think about this as well. _

Yakumo notched slightly with her right arm and made a sign towards the teachers who looked at him annoyed.

_Oh it's my turn_. He rubbed his head in an embarrassed manner and put on his cheerful and innocent mask again. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki remember it for the future! I want to do two things! One is to become a legendary shinobi." He bumped his fist to his chest at this. "And the other is to found my own clan!" He finished everything off with a large smile and peace first raised towards the class.

The other teacher, the white haired one he knew was called Mizuki raised an eyebrow at him. "Well if we're going by your first impression I'd say you have a very long and bumpy road ahead of you."

While the words sounded the good the man's body language looked wrong to him. _Hmm come on let's see the other shoe drop I'm not falling for this one again. _

Mizuki let a small smile tug at his lips. "And I'm sure the road will have plenty of potholes that you may not see coming, or just walk right into them because you weren't paying attention."

_And there we go! I knew there had to be something; at least he didn't make a big joke about it like Kafu did last time. It looks like the insult flew over most of my classmates heads though._ Looking at the other teacher he saw the man nodding his head with a stern expression on his face. _Wonderful the two of them are against me; well at least we've got that settled now at the start. _

The rest of the class finished up without anything major, he took note of the other class mates who showed potential and especially of the clan heirs. At the Uchiha's statement of wanting to be a great shinobi like his brother most of the girls in his class looked ready squeal in joy of how great he was.

While he couldn't yet be fully certain of Aburame heir, he looked to be on the better side of things, the Yamanaka and Hyuuga heiress disappointed, one looked ready to join in the young Uchiha's fan club while the other looked weak. The Inuzuka boy was apparently the second child of the clan head and while he did appear a bit to brash he made a note to keep on eye on him for the future.

The Uchiha on the other hand, well he was from a clan and the second born of the clan head, however given the way Yukimura spoke about the clan he decided he would keep a distance from the boy.

_Well let's see how things go in the following days. _

* * *

><p>The rest of the academy day passed uneventful and Naruto made his way towards Yakumo's home after nightfall, he got an annoyed look from her when she greeted him. He got of course neglected to tell her the exact hour he would arrive at, even if angry she still allowed him inside her home and the two went to her garden.<p>

Naruto smiled looking at a shadow behind them_. Huh so the uncle is spying on us is he?_ He looked back towards Yakumo. "So what did you think of the first day?"

"It was ok" she shrugged "I expected more from our classmates."

He looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Um more of what?"

"Ambition!" She burst out. "None of them seem to have it, even the Uchiha." she scowled saying the name, "apparently only wants to play second fiddle to his elder brother. And don't get me started on some of the girls in the class!"

_Well we have something else in common eh? Still after my last two tries I can't say that I'm to surprised by this._ He mussed for a moment of whether he could add chan to her name before deciding against it. "We can't all be like you Yakumo."

She crossed her arms over her chest looking at him. "Hm! yours aren't that bad either."

_Not that not they are a lot easier to accomplish then yours that's for sure._ "Mah" he rubbed his head. "I think it would have sounded better if this wasn't my third time at the academy."

The girl considered her words briefly before speaking. "You did start very early so its alright if you didn't manage to pass, if everyone else was bigger then you of course you would have had trouble and after what happened the first time when your classmate tried to make you look guilty of theft I cant blame you for quitting back then."

_Yeah he tried to make me look guilty of theft and not the other way around, poor bastard haven't seen him around the village anymore. _"Thanks" he scratched his head "Ano you don't seem to like our Uchiha classmate."

Yakumo scowled before her features returned to neutral. "My clan and theirs have had a very troubled relationship."

_Of course considering they have their copy eyes it wouldn't be any other way._ "Huh?" he asked in a puzzled manner.

"My clan is great with genjutsu and the Uchiha's have been trying to steal ours for years, they claimed that because of their eyes their genjutsus are better then ours."

_These sound more like her uncle's words then anything else; I can almost see his hand moving her mouth at a time like this_. "Ohhh, they sound really bad."

Yakumo nodded her head. "Yes they are, the Hyuuga aren't much better either."

_What's this she doesn't like them either? Of course their eyes! _"How come?"

"They claimed their precious eyes can see through our genjutsu, cutting through them like a knife through butter. They both rely on their eyes so much it isn't fair, my clan worked hard for their techniques."

_True enough, then again your clan had its genjutsu who are said to be stronger then usual and a clan secret. _

The girl let out an irate sigh before continuing. "It's like hard work means nothing to them."

_Heh, sister will definitely like you._

Yakumo tightened her fists. "Its why I want to become a well know shinobi that uses genjutsu, I want to show people that you don't need some fancy eyes to be good at using genjutsu."

_Heh, nice words even if there is more to it then that, by the looks of it her uncle has been pumping her full of information and shaping her like he desires, restoring the clans reputation and its numbers. Even with her high intelligence all the things she's been talking about seems a bit to much for her right now. Still given my experience with manipulative old men, I will definitely help out, if only to derail their plans. Let's try something, blame it on the spur of the moment_. He smiled before bursting out in excitement. "That sounds awesome Yaku-chan!" he pulled her close and hugged her, "I'll definitely help you out as well. Oh lets both work together to help our dreams come true."

She accepted the hug, for a moment he wondered if he had crossed a line and she would reject it, considering the recent tragedy she experienced he wouldn't be too surprised.

"Alright then well both do our best." She raised her left hand and stretched out her small finger. "Pinky promise." The girl looked half embarrassed and half completely serious

_What the? She actually takes this serious? She still is young_. "Ok!" He made a similar gesture with his finger. "It's a promise we'll both fight for our dreams."

Yakumo nodded her head with the most serious look on her face he had ever seen. "Pinky promise! You can't break that."

"Yeah! Pinky promise."

He looked towards the night sky and smiled. "Ah there it is!"

"Huh, what is it?" She looked towards the sky as well.

He pointed at the brightest star in the sky. "There see the evening star, I remembered a story about it that I wanted to tell you while we were at the academy. I came by later so we could see it when I told you the story."

Her eyes lit up on realization. "Oh!"

Naruto cleared his throat. "They say that once."

"Who are they?" She asked tilting her head.

He shrugged. "Um, I don't know it's just how the story goes."

Yakumo crossed her arms. "Well shouldn't you find out?"

"Um it's just that this is how I heard so this is how I'll tell it now, can I continue my story?"

Yakumo nodded her head.

"There was a man and a woman who had a son that they loved him so much they never lost sight of him. One day however it happened that the boy heard about a river that existed, and who ever drinks it's water will never know of old age and will live as long as the earth and the world. The boy felt that it was his fate to reach that river, his parents with pain in their souls and tears in their eyes pleaded with him to forget the thought of leaving and to remain home because he was their only joy in the world."

Alas it was all for nothing as the boy picked up a few fruits and left for the road. He walked and walked for a time and eventually he reached a large oak forest, entering it the boy met a wolf who was trying to cut down the trees with his tail. The wolf looked at the boy and asked him.

Where is your destination young lad?

I seek the river with life giving water. The boy responded.

Stay here in this place of mine and you will live until I cut this forest down with my tail.

The boy refused and kept walking, on high roads and on low roads until finally he reached two young girls that were playing in garden filled with young trees, not even reaching his own head, and beautiful flowers. Not that the girls weren't pretty mind you, they were as cute as two butterflies. Seeing the boy the girls immediately asked.

Where are you going young one?

The boy responded in quick haste. I'm going to a place where I can live as long as the earth and the world.

Stay here young one, with us, and you shall live as long as we do. We will not die until these trees do not grow big, until they are dried, rotten and until the birds have not played in their dust.

The boy didn't stop from his road even this time; he walked onwards and eventually reached the palace of a fairy as beautiful as the sun.

Where are you going young man?

I'm looking for the water of eternal life.

Well, from now on you can think of this as accomplished, you've reached the place, and I know its location and I will it if you promise me to always head my advice and never break them.

The young man agreed and the fairy took him to the magic river, where he drank from its water. At once he felt an eternal spring blossom in his chest, everything felt filled with a life without end.

And when the thrill of first love struck him he became red a rose in front of the fairy. As he was dear to her as well, the decided to marry, their happy knew no bounds, and he didn't even notice how the years passed on by him. The fairy pleaded with him all the time to never dare approach the lake of woe. But it had to happen, during a hunting trip, the bird she shot with an arrow fell in the middle of that water. Forgetting of the promise made, the boy turned man ran to lake and gazed his reflection on its surface as he reached to observe the bird.

His eyes saw on the water the faces of his mother and father that were calling to him with tears in their eyes. From that moment on a terrible longing for his old home started to torment. Nothing could stop him from his decision to leave and travel to see his parents, not ever his wife's words, that told him of how pointless the trip was, because since he had been in that place of theirs, hundreds of years had passed, and their was nothing left of his parents.

The man took a horse packed a few bags for the trip and left, along the way he struggled to recognize the garden with the young girls and forest with the wolf but to no avail for there wasn't even a trace of them left. The man reached the place where the village he was born in should have been though now there was only sand. In a ravine he found a small home there lived on old man of three hundred years. He went to him and asked the old man about his parents.

I think I heard about them from my great great grandparents, that such people they lived around these parts.

What else was the man do to but to head back from when he came? But when he turned his head he stumbled and from behind him Death appeared.

Well, well, my dear boy, I've been searching for a long time for you and now I've finally found you!

The man ran and jumped on his horse and started to ride away as fast as he could with Death right behind him with one jaw to the ground and the other to the sky. When Death was close to catching him the man threw his weapon and shouted. Rust it!

Death rusted the weapon and once more chased after him, when it was near him again the man threw an acorn at it shouting. Raise it! Once raised Death renewed the chase, when it almost reached him the man jumped off the horse and opened the gates of the fairy's palace. The fairy wanting to greet him grabbed him by an arm and Death by a leg.

Death looked at the fairy with hatred. He's mine.

No his mine. The fairy responded. And one it went arguing between the two until the fairy calmed down and proposed something.

Wait! I shall turn him into a golden apple and throw him up high. The one who catches him will the one to whom he shall belonged. Though low and behold what a wonder! The apple thrown never returned to the ground, it reached the heaven and turned into a star. People to this day call it the Evening Star. Then the fairy turned into another golden apple and started to look for him, but she turned into a star as well, the Dawn Star and went looking for the night one. And Death is still waiting for the apple to fall. And that's the history of these two stars.

And that's how the two stars got their names."

Yakumo looked horrified at him. "Um, how could the boy abandon his family like that for some selfish desire? How could death be fooled so easily? What kind of spirit was that woman? How could she hide from death? How did…."

He waved his hands at her. "Ok I get it; there are some holes in there!"

She shook her head anger still clear in her eyes. "A lot of them, I can't believe the boy was so selfish!"

_Don't you see the meaning behind it?_ He tried keeping an exuberant tone. "Well he went after his dream and got it didn't he?"

"He hurt his family while doing it!"

"Yeah, I guess so." _To bad you didn't understand the other part of the story._ "I heard it a while back and like the part with the journey, the silly wolf and the big end."

"It wasn't that bad I guess." She shrugged at last the anger slowly leaving her eyes.

"See, I should probably head we have a school day tomorrow after all."

"Alright."

After closing the door to her home, Yakumo was surprised to find her uncle behind her with a stern look on his face, she managed to keep most of her surprise in check.

"Yakumo, you are friends with that boy correct?"

"Yes uncle." She nodded curious at to where he was going with the question.

"Has he ever displayed any odd behavior?"

Try as she might she could understand why her uncle had placed an accent on the word. "Odd? like what?"

"Just something different then how he normally acts."

"No, I guess not, why do you ask?"

"Just something I observed." The man closed his eyes before a moment before opening them again. "I want you to write down the story he just told you and put it away somewhere safe then read it again in a few years, once you make genin should be more then enough time."

"Why it was just a story, it didn't mean much?"

He waved a hand dismissing her question. "Perhaps it was just that, this however is not a request but an order from the clan head, understand?"

"Yes uncle." She bowed slightly before leaving the room.

He let out a tired breath watching his niece leaving the room. _Perhaps it is just a simple coincidence and I'm reading for to much into it, never the less Yakumo my dear you did not see the other side of that story. The boy had a dream and chased it not giving up until he achieved that dream, resisting temptation along the way and making the sacrifices needed. Yet after obtaining the victory the boy grew careless and lost it, throwing away that dream the boy invited the consequences to fall upon him. In the end he achieved a bitter sweet victory, losing the paradise he had gained. _

_A coincidence that he told you this story after you both discussed your dreams? It could have been a play on his part to see if you could catch his true meaning. The boy may yet prove dangerous and keeping you near him may not be worth the risk, even with the Yondaime's seal on him who knows if the fox hasn't started to influence him already. _

_With my mistress dead and my old age advancing it will fall to you to restore the clan, a fate I had hoped to aid you in shouldering as much as I could, given your condition I wanted to lift a part of the burden but now alas we will need to die with our heads held high. It is why I will not forgive such an oversight on your part, you will represent the last of our clan and will be far greater then those that came before you this I promise! _

* * *

><p>Naruto smiled when he caught a whiff of the smell before entering his apartment, the sight he caught when he opened the door was of sister setting the table, by the look of the food she had finally managed to prepare a recipe Yukimura had shown her that however was difficult to prepare because one the main ingredients were difficult to procure.<p>

Tenten smiled at him. "Right on time."

"Heh, yeah I guess I am; congratulations are in order then?" He looked at the food and licked his own lips.

"Yep, I finally did it, just because you cook most of the food doesn't mean I can't get one right."

"I never said that."

She gave him a small disbelieving look. "Well come on lets eat."

It was only after they had finished dinner that they resumed their conversation.

"So how was the meeting with your little friend?"

"About as expected, I'm a bit sad she wasn't more suspicious about a story I told her, but I did found out that she doesn't like the Hyuuga or Uchiha clans, though by the looks of it, those are her uncle's thoughts more then hers."

"It is what it is" she shook her head, knowing that she had a similar problem with her classmates as well. "so how long until I'll be able to meet her?"

"I'm still not sure; until I can trust her with the Kyuubi you're staying hidden."

She winked at him. "So I'm a bigger secret then him?"

"….yes?"

"Alright, I can see the logic behind that."

"Really?" He asked relieved.

"Why do you think I haven't introduced you to some of my friends?"

He grinned at his sister. "Don't you mean your punching bags?"

"Some of them are getting close to friends level, I think a few see me as such…. I think."

"Uh huh."

"Until I know how they feel about you, you're also staying in the closet."

"That sounds so dirty."

"Under the bed, in the shadows, in the attic, under the bridge, pick one."

"Heh, good food sis."

"See, you're not the only one who can make something like that."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do the dishes then."

"There's something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"Huh what is it?"

"Well I want my own place."

He dropped the plate from his hands, his heart started beating faster and his face paled. "What you want to leave?"

"No!" she shook her head. "I just want my own room, not now, but eventually. I figured I could move in to one of the apartments next to this one."

He let out a relived breath. "Oh."

She padded him on the head. "Don't worry I'm not going anywhere."

He crossed his arms and looked away. "I wasn't worried or anything."

"Really?"

Naruto could almost taste the sarcasm on his sister's voice. "Well maybe a little bit."

She rolled her eyes at him again.

"Maybe a bit more then a little."

"You know we could put a door around here so we can just enter the other place rather then enter through the hallway, or a window or something."

"Yeah, but the door thing is going to be a hard sell to the Hokage."

"Hmm, yeah, still we can renovate the place a bit now can't we?"

"Not a bad idea."

"I figured we can make some changes to the building, build something up, maybe a blacksmith to make our own weapons. We should fortify the building to a degree at least now that it's yours."

Naruto scratched his head looking around the place. "Well it's not mine until I make chunin and make big changes to it will probably attract the Hokage's attention."

Tenten quirked an eyebrow at him. "Your garden on the roof hasn't done that."

"Uh, well, yeah, but it's just a small garden."

"Small? It takes up most of the roof now!"

"Well, I can lie about how I got some of the needed for it and it is believable, how the heck would I lie about a forge for blacksmithing?"

"Yeah, ok maybe I got a bit ahead of myself."

"I guess we could use some of the money the old owner left behind to get you your own place. I still don't know if the Hokage won't force other people to live here."

"Uh that would be bad, it's a good thing we moved all the stuff we stashed in the building out before the two rolled out their plan."

"Uh huh."

"You really wanted the forge didn't you?"

"Yeah, I wanted to try and make weapons, and armor, especially to experiment with some of the heavy amour."

"Remember what those two said."

"Yes yes, amour... is part of a state of mind... in which you admit the possibility... of being hit.**Hey that reminds are you going to try and get the position of dead last in you class?**"

Naruto's eyes where as wide as plates filled with bewilderment. "**Why on earth would I ever do that?**"

She shrugged her shoulders. "**To mess with people, it would be fun.**"

"**Well yeah but with the cover I have set it would only make things worse. In general I don't know why anyone would ever want that position, especially if they have skills.**"

"**Cuz they hide their skills like a true ninja?**"

"**Um maybe but do they continue to do that after the academy? Or do they keep hiding them even after? Heck if they starting showing amazing skills after being declared dead last and graduating as such, it would draw a lot more attention onto themselves. People would ask how the dead last has such amazing skills now all of a sudden, if anything that would put a huge spotlight on the person, I think that could cause them to make a mistake from all the pressure. Not to mention the black eye it would give the academy, sure they do deserve it because they couldn't see the talent that person had however you still ruin any and all relationships there as a result of making them look like fools. Don't burn those bridges just yet if you could still use them in the future. Showing everything of as rookie of the year may not be the best choice either, if you think about it logically, you won't have any hidden aces up your sleeve if you show off everything during the academy. I would be worried about spies as well getting their hands on the information, given Konoha's defenses especially that part. No somewhere near the middle of the pack would be best, that way when I start showing my actual skills, people won't be as surprised and Ill just show bits and pieces.**"

"**Oh geez, calm down, you didn't have to go on a tangent like that, I know this stuff. For me, heh I want people to know and see me coming, I finished as top dog last year and I want to do it as well this year.**"

"**You had Yukimura make copies of the books and read them here in the realm; I don't think that all of your classmates had a few extra months to study, not to mention Katsue teaching us, and these two teaching us as well.**"

"**Way to ruin the mood brother.**"

"**Just point it out that's all.**"

"**I'm still going to be top dog this year as well.**"

"**You know that Hokage is going to be curious on the matter, somehow you're at the top and I'm at the bottom.**"

"**We can blame it on your general suckage at everything.**"

"**Har har, just be careful alright?**"

"**Of course that don't worry about, I don't think there's much the Hokage can do about it.**"

"It's just…."

"Don't worry I'll be careful about it, I have to get strong to protect little brother and Konoha, like the heroes of old!"

"I still find that voice creepy."

"Well I find your innocent, naïve mask creepy."

"Touché."

"Well come on we can still make plans for when I make chunin and we can renovate the place, right now we just have to be careful about where we stash our things here in case the old man sends someone to check it out."

"Ok, finish the dishes first though."

"Ahhhh, forgot about them."

* * *

><p>Katsue let out a relieved breath as she leaned into her chair; the first day of the academic year was over. And it couldn't have come any sooner. This was it for her the big leagues, she wanted to teach the students how to survive in the real world and prepare them for it and now she would be teaching the class that had the most potential, jounins could very well come from her current class. It was an incredible responsibility that had been hoisted on her shoulders and though she hoped she wrong, she also being used as a piece in a game she could yet wrap her head around.<p>

_Well at least we have the plan for the year set up, I'm glad I had Yujiro's help for it. _

"Relieved that the first day is done?"

She smiled as the man took a seat at the desk in front of hers, Yujiro Hirai was her fellow teacher for the class, he had short black hair, dark eyes, slim lips an oval shaped face, a strong well defined jaw line and medium build and height. He wore the usual chunin attire save for the fact that he had a bandana tied around his left arm, from what he had learned the man had been a student of headmaster while he still actively taught at the academy_. So him and I are pieces used to counter the Hokage's own plans, I wonder if he knows what's going on, he may very well be loyal to the headmaster like Iruka is._ "You could say that, now the real hard part begins."

"I'm sure that we will manage somehow."

"Hmm, what did you think of the students?"

"Quite a few of them showed potential."

She didn't know the way she didn't like how he had said the word potential, it seemed there was something more behind it, a hind of lust and eagerness perhaps?

"A couple of them are your old students aren't they?"

"Yes, a few of them, you also helped train a few of the others."

"That I did, personally I think we have a good plan set up for the year, and if anything pops up I'm sure well manage. Personally I'm curious about the Hyuuga boy though."

"Ah yes Neji Hyuuga, I think he's a branch member judging by the cloth he wore around his forehead."

"So you worked with a Hyuuga as well then?"

"A while back yes, I couldn't get to much information about the matter just that the family is split in two."

"Hmm, that's about as much as I know as well, that aside I heard that the boy is very talented, a few called him a prodigy, he excels at taijutsu, something it isn't surprising given his clan."

"I heard talk about it last year but I was so busy with my own class I dismissed the matter, it was the first year after all."

"Now we'll get to see if the rumors are true."

"Fair enough, I noticed that plenty of the other students where from shinobi families."

"Hm, yes a few there are a few from the orphanage and a few orphans from shinobi families."

"Oh?"

"A child of an old classmate that died recently, I've been keeping on eye on the boy every since. Part of the reason I accepted this position was to keep on eye on the kid to make sure he gets to live longer then his folks did."

"Can't say my motives were so different. We have other students as well."

"Yeah, I figured that if I was more rough on them then…."

She nodded her head. "They would live longer once they see field work."

"Yeah…it isn't easy out there."

"No, it really isn't, we lets just to our best to make sure the children are ready for the time they have to step out onto that stage alright?"

"Deal!"

* * *

><p>Aburame Shino sat in one of the grounds of his clan meditating, a good control of one's emotions was something vital to his clan, especially in the young members, they were taught from a young age to suppress a part of their emotions and to value logic. The kikaichu at first were sensible to effects of uncontrolled emotions, in the time once they matured the effects were greatly negated, a consequence of their early training was that once they were older most of the clan still repressed their emotions.<p>

This gave the clan a detached and cold image to the people around them, something that put made making friends at the academy much more difficult. Adding to his was the fact that many people were uneasy around his clan because of his clan's ability to host the kikaichu into their own bodies. Indeed the first day at the academy confirmed this as many children were wary of him, even with his clan's warnings of such a thing it had still been difficult when confronted with it.

He had however remarked on three rather curious looks, one was from the Kurama girl who had looked at him with curiosity, the other was from the Inuzuka boy Kiba, the two clans had worked together in the past and bonds existed between them, the last was one of interest from a blond haired boy, Naruto Uzumaki. _Perhaps those three are potential friends, two of them have rather ambitious goals, whether they can achieve such things remains to be seen, given their current condition it seems like an uphill battle. _

_I most likely face a similar one in seeing you every again brother, the research with your kikaichu is progressing very slowly, never the less I wont give up. _

"Shino-san."

"Mai-san."

"You are required at the compound, your father wished you to witness a gathering to congratulate Shiki-san."

_Usually this occurs when something has happened to a clan member, a promotion or a reprimand._ "Is his situation dire?"

"No, he has succeeded on the last mission, given the skills he has displayed and his recent performance he has been awarded the title of special jounin."

_A promotion then, one of highest titles a clan member can hold. _"Will there be a celebration at the clan house with his teammates?"

"Nothing so grand, though I'm sure your father will explain some of the intricacies of the matter."

_So there is some sort of political play._

"His teammates for the mission, Mitarashi-san, has also gained an amount of fame for her skills, perhaps an advancement in rank is not far behind either."

_A potential clan friend or ally then._ "Very well, let us depart then…."

* * *

><p>Naruto rubbed a hand across his forehead as he finished working on his roof top garden even if the cold weather hadn't passed he had made steps to have the ground work prepared. Right now Naruto wanted to be as tired as possibly so he could fall asleep much faster later on. <em>Tonight we can finally return to the god realm, it feels like ages since we've been there.<em>

He looked up to the night sky filled with stars, they looked even more beautiful to him from atop the roof, while he worked on the garden his sister had agreed to wash the dishes and clean up the apartment, considering he had been the one to make dinner no one complained about their own tasks.

Thinking back his first week of the new academy cycle was a lot more similar to that of his first try, both the new teachers seemed more against him then neutral like the ones from his second try.

"Naruto-kun."

_Ah speak of the wolf and he shall appear! _He looked back and saw his old sensei landing on the roof. "Ah good evening sensei!"

She smiled and ruffled his hair. "Isn't it a bit late for you to be up at this hour?"

"Ahh I just wanted to work on the garden a bit, and it got dark and I stayed to look at the stars!"

"Well, it's alright, just make sure to go to bed soon."

"Ahh, but there's no school tomorrow!"

"Even so, you are still growing and you need your sleep."

"Pfff, alright."

"I…" she hesitated for a moment. "Wanted to speak to you about your first week at the academy; I've been so busy with my new class that I haven't had time to come visit you."

_So she still cares_. "Ahh it's alright sensei, sister said that you're really busy with her class and stuff."

"Even so, I wanted to ask how things were going for you now, I can't even really train you and your sister anymore because of my work schedule."

"It's alright, I still remember what you taught me from before, and we haven't done much until now."

"Well that's good, if we have any problems you can ask me. So how are your new classmates?"

"Their ok, I actually have friends!"

"Oh, that's great."

"Yeah, I'm hoping to make a lot more."

"You could try making a hundred friends."

"No I want to make real friends who are a hundred times as important."

"Well said, I'm sure you can do it Naruto-kun."

_You have no idea._

"And how are your teachers?"

"Um, they remind me a bit of sour mustache face."

"Who?"

"Okafu…the other sensei from when I was in your class sensei."

"Oh, in what way?"

"I don't know, it's just how they act and look at me."

"I see, listen Naruto-kun if you have any problems with them you come see me alright."

"What kind of problems?"

"Any kind."

"Ah don't worry sensei I remember all the stuff you taught me."

"As long as you actually use it this time around."

"Ahh, I have friends this time around, maybe I can actually get on a team with them, I wanna kick butt this time around."

"Well alright, come to think of it, you haven't done a prank recently have you finally..."

_She's right I forgot about those._ "Thank you sensei I forgot about them I'm going to do a big one to make up for lost time, a really big one for my new senseis!"

_Heh, the expression on her face would best be summed up with the words ah shit._

"No Naruto-kun you really don't need to do that, in fact it may be better if you don't do such a thing."

"But I have to sensei!"

"You're not going to stop even if I ask you?"

"Um…"

"I'm too tired to argue, just promise to not get yourself hurt alright?"

"Yes sensei!"

"All right now come I think we both stayed up long enough."

* * *

><p>Naruto opened his eyes and pleasantly surprised by the smell of home made bread that filed the air, from outside he could hear the wind howl, it looked like a snow storm was raging. A part of Yukimura and Sayaka's idea of matching the seasons within the godrealm with those from the outside world, the two didn't want him and his sister to experience a disconnect when leaving the god realm. Not that they didn't experience as many types of weather during their training and stays in the godrealm, it was an experience to go sledding while outside it was the middle of summer.<p>

He stretched for a few minutes and remained in bed enjoying the atmosphere of the place if he could he would never leave the place, this was his real home, sadly he knew he couldn't do that and resigned sigh he got out of bed.

After a quick change of cloths he made his way through the house finding his sister in the kitchen the two continued looking through the house for the last members, to their surprise they found them in the living.

Both Yukimura and Sayaka were dressed in dark blue suits and were studying what looked like white spheres that floated around them.

"Ah welcome you two." Sayaka gave the two a smiled and a quick hug.

Yukimura made a gesture with his hand and the spheres floated to the ceiling before smiling at the two. "It's good to have you back." He saw the puzzled looks the two had on. "Something wrong?"

Naruto looked at his sister who nodded. "Well it's just that usually you're around the house to greet us when we arrive. This time though…."

Yukimura rubbed the back of his head laughing. "Ah that would be my fault, while waiting for you I asked Sayaka to help go through some memories and lost track of time."

Tenten looked at Yukimura oddly. "Don't you have avatars for that?"

"We do however it doesn't mean we can't devote more time and energy to the task, it is important after all."

Naruto looked between the two and the spheres. "Did you find anything useful?"

"It depends on what you mean by that. The memories are still disjointed Naruto-kun, bits and pieces from here and there. We've managed to find memories of what happened to several gods and their domains, however given their utter destruction their importance and usefulness has waned."

Tenten looked at one of the spheres trying to guess its size. "What happened to them?"

Naruto saw the embarrassed look on Yukimura's face and pressed the issue. "Well?"

He shuffled his feat for a moment looking at Sayaka who wore an amused look. "I, err, I eat them"

Both Naruto and blinked surprised at what they heard. "What?"

"I did say that I devoured gods, so I eat them after defeating them in battle."

"And their realms?" Naruto asked.

"Seeing how the god was dead, I naturally eat that as well, rather then leave it behind to wither away."

Naruto rolled his eyes at the casual tone Yukimura spoke about eating gods and realms. "Naturally." His tone was as dry as he could make it.

Tenten was still trying to wrap her mind on whole matter. "Wait, their realms, where they like this one?"

"Some." Yukimura nodded. "Others also had their one version of an afterlife included into the godrealm. An example would of this kind of place would Tuonela, or sometimes Manala. The belief for most people was that it was situated underground or at the bottom of a lake, though sometimes it was said to exist on the other side of a dark river. Tuonela was ruled over by the god Tuoni, and his wife, the goddess Tuonetar. It was a dark and lifeless place, where the dead were in a state of eternal sleep, shamans were sometimes able to reach the spirits of their dead ancestors by traveling to Tuonela in a state of trance created by rituals. The shaman had to make his way over the Tuonela river by tricking the ferryman,a small game the gods made to test the shamans. While in Tuonela, the shaman had to be careful not to get caught, the living were not welcomed there. Shamans who were caught could end up decaying in the stomach of a giant pikefish with no hope of returning to normal life. If the shaman died during the trance ritual, it was believed that he had been caught by the guards at Tuonela."

Tenten nodded grasping the situation. "So the two gods also lived there then, and kept their worshipers souls there as well."

"Exactly."

For his part Naruto scratched his head thinking about a particular point of the story. "Why a pikefish?"

"It depends on the area, sometimes it could be represented by something rare or unusual for the people of an area."

Sayaka rolled her eyes. "Or it was because those gods found it amusing to see their believer's reactions to that part."

Yukimura nodded. "Or that, I have a few memories of that as well."

Tenten blinked again at the new information. "The gods sound….unpleasant."

"Yes they were, I remember those two gave me bad indigestion." Yukimura rubbed his stomach. "Still there wasn't any running around or screaming from the soul there, not with them being in sleep like state."

Tenten wasn't sure what she should say to something like that. "Good for you then…"

Naruto rubbed his chin mulling things over. "It sounds interesting are there any others?"

"Plenty if you want to hear about them."

He nodded. "Before that there is something I wanted to ask actually."

"Oh?"

"It's about the girl you asked to look for; I wanted to know if I can teach her a few things."

"Go on?"

"Well I think she has potential for the future, heck making friends with the clan heirs is the main reason why I stayed behind so long."

"And what do you want to teach her exactly?"

"From what I saw I actually wanted to teach her a martial arts style, her clans looks very depended on medium to long ranged combat. I haven't seen her with something extremely different yet so perhaps she hasn't learned it just yet."

"Do you find her worthy?"

"I think she has potential, yes, and this isn't about teaching her every thing, just a few bits and pieces. I figured someone like her would be great at using **Jeswandi, if she could find a way to combine it with her genjutsu shed much tougher to take down.**"

"**So you have thought this through then Naruto-kun.**"

"**There's not much I can do at the academy, I already know the stuff their teaching there.**"

"**If you think that you can trust her with the matter then we can allow such a thing, if however she breaks the trust then their will be consequences for the both of you.**"

"**I understand, I'll take things easy.**"

"**Could I train some of my classmates in the future?**"

"**Only if you think that they have the will for such a thing and the ability to keep their mouths shut.**"

"**Understand we must be careful in how much we reveal our hand, the Kurama clan is down to just two people, the risk of them talking about the origin of the fighting style is much smaller.**"

"**Alright, they are already doing well enough with just sparing and the study group; I'll see what they can do this year.**"

"**It's going to be an interesting one.**"

Tenten grinned at him. "**Yeah, second year for some people.**"

"**Laugh it up sister; I'll be catching up soon enough.**"

She chuckled. "**Sure brother.**"

"**Come with me Naruto-kun I'll teach you some of the basic moves of the style.**"

Tenten turned towards Yukimura smiling. "**So that means I'm with you then?**"

"**Yes, there something I've been meaning to talk to you especially.**"

"**Huh?**" _What could this be about?_

* * *

><p>Naruto watched dispassionately as the his fellow classmates practiced with throwing stars, so far none of them had hit all of the targets, not even the clan children something that was disappointing. His thoughts were interrupted when a myriad of cheers erupted from around him; a quick look showed him that the Uchiha boy was getting ready to practice as well.<p>

_Well, let's see if he can do it better then the rest. _

The boy weighed the stars in his hands and shuffled them.

_Nothing new there, the Aburame boy did the same thing. _

"Go Sasuke-kun!"

_Well aren't you annoying? _Most of the girls in his class were cheering the boy with great fervor._ What exactly does he have to make them like him so much? He seems friendly enough I'll give him that. Are their parents encouraging the behavior hoping to get into the clan that way? I suppose they could like him because of his looks, given how young they are it can't be much more. _

With a quick hand gesture the boy threw the stars and managed to hit four of the five targets, the best display of the group. The boy snapped his fingers looking both pleased and slightly upset; around him the crowd erupted in cheers again.

_I guess its time I make an ass of myself I do have a reputation to maintain_. He yelled making an indignant face. "Oi it doesn't matter who they are, I won't forgive anyone who tries to stand out more than me!" He quickly made his way and picked up the stars as well, he ignored the talk around him as he shuffled the stars in his hand. _Hmm I defiantly can't him all of them at once, or even four of them, before the Uchiha boy the best score was three of five. Two will have to do for now, those previous years in the academy have to count and all_.

A quick move and the stars flew from his hand, two impacted on their target while the other three missed it entirely. Howls of laughter erupted around him concerning his failed attempt. _Well at least it was a lot better then most of these people, laugh it up with a flick of the wrist I could have launched them into your foreheads killing the lot of you without even blinking._ A glance to the side showed him a supportive looking Chouji and an upset Yakumo.

The Uchiha boy beamed at him. "Ah come on, it was good first try."

He smiled a bit. "I'll kick your ass next time."

"Hah! You'll never beat Sasuke-kun!"

He didn't bother looking back at who shouted that particular phrase.

"Silence" to his credit Iruka seemed to have some control over the students. "It was an acceptable first attempt Uzumaki, better then some of you, given your history more expected."

He shrugged. "Tchh, whatever, I'll just kick ass next time."

_That's it pour it on just more fuel for the great change I will experience in this academic cycle after all a sudden change would attract to much attention, best to make it something gradual. Which reminds me that I still have a prank to pull, if I didn't pull one the teachers would suspect that something was wrong. _

As he turned towards his two friends he noticed an odd look from Iruka. _Oh do we a second Katsue on our hands? _

* * *

><p>Tenten cracked her neck as she stepped into the sparing ring, the boy in front of her, Yatsuhiro Okuma, didn't look like much of a challenge, even if he was fast becoming one of the better students. <em>He's still miles behind the rest of my group and he hasn't even fought the Hyuuga boy yet.<em>

The two approached the middle of the ring, and she looked closer at her opponent, he had dark purple with spike near the back, a slim build, a round shaped face with a small nose and green eyes.

"Let's do this."

"Yatsuhiro!" Katsue called out placing a hand between them and giving the boy a harsh look. "Before the spar, you have to make the symbol of combat."

The boy flinched back from the look and nodded. "I'm sorry sensei, I'm just excited!"

Katsue looked at him and nodded. "Listen I should have to repeat this, it's your second year already, these shinobi spars are a tradition that's been passed down for generations! I realize there's a lot of etiquette, but it's important, and here at the academy, we're teaching you the basics! First, you always face your opponent and point your fingers like this." She quickly made the Ram sign. "This is the symbol of combat. It represents on half of a seal that might be used to activate a Ninjutsu technique, and means, 'I've come to face you in battle!' When the spar is over, both participants make the symbol of combat and lock their fingers together, to make the symbol of harmony and acknowledge that they are still comrades. This is all part of the proper etiquette for a shinobi spar."

"Hai sensei!"

Katsue looked between the two and nodded after they made the sign.

Yatsuhiro grinned at her as he got into his stance. "Heh so you're the big star huh?"

She cocked an eyebrow at the boy and tilted her head. _Is he actually going to taunt me? _

"The quiet type huh? No problem, once I beat you down, I'll be number one!"

A small smile spread across her face hearing the words. "Oh? Take me down you say?"

"Yep, I won't go easy on you even if you're a girl! I hope you can put up a good fight before going down!"

Tenten's smile got bigger as she heard her group of friends hiss their breaths.

Her smile now threatened to reach her ears; she looked at the boy through half closed eyes tilting her head back. "Take me down?"

Tai's eyes widened hearing the boy speak. "He's dead meat."

Sora nodded. "Utterly dead. Even Katsue-sensei looks worried."

"Remember what she did to me last year? He's going to get it far worse."

Tenten's smile dropped as she raised her left hand towards her face, fist already tightened. "Start the spar sensei."

Katsue bit her lip for a moment wondering if she shouldn't call the match off, her colleague sent her a puzzled look while the most of the students looked anxious to see the fight, she could see the study group she tutored where just as nervous as she was. _No turning back now._ She dropped her hand and signaled the spar to commence.

The students thought they blinked and missed, most rubbed their eyes and wondered what had occurred in front of their eyes had moved a few feet from her position and had her right fist outstretched while Yatsuhiro was down on the ground.

Sora muttered under her breath. "Fast, I couldn't even see her."

_What did she do? Was that some kind of technique?_

Tai shook his head. "No, I don't think so, in fact it's probably the opposite."

"Huh?"

"It was just a simple forward dash."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I looked at her legs and she looked ready to dash the guy, Yatsuhiro wasn't expecting someone to charge at him so quickly."

_What was that?_ Yatsuhiro slowly got up, he could feel that his lips had swollen but weren't broken. _Was that really a punch?_

Tenten grinned. "Oh, you are a slow one aren't you?"

_You?! _

"Weren't you going to defeat me?"

"Yeah!" He got up slowly. "It's not over yet!" _I could barely see her punch coming and I can't believe how far she was able to reach. I have to get closer to her, keeping a distance is too much here. _

A small breath before he charged towards Tenten quickly moving his whole body from right to left.

_If I can just wave my head a punch won't land. _

Yujiro nodded looking at the boy. _That's right keeping moving._

After closing the distance Yatsuhiro threw a punch aimed at Tenten's face, his eyes widened as it missed inches away from her face as she looked on amused, a moment later he felt a pain erupt in his stomach. The air left his lungs_. What?_ A second later saw her left fist before it crashed into his face stumbling him back. He clutched his face feeling the right side go numb. _How can she punch like that? _

Tenten yawned. "Lets end this, it's gotten boring."

_Boring?_ He let out a ragged breath. "I'll show you boring!" He blinked once before a fist crashed into his face forcing him to take a step back, he never got a chance to get his bearings before another one crashed into his face again from the left side followed by another one from the right side snapping his head to the side and forcing him down to the ground.

"Well I promised sensei to show some restraint after what I did last time, so count yourself lucky."

"I…" His hand clutched the ground as he tried to get up before falling down again.

"Alright the spar is over, Tenten wins."

Tenten grinned at the boy holding her fingers in the ram seal only to have them slapped aside.

Katsue hissed the word out. "Yatsuhiro!"

"No" he shook his head, tears falling down his face "I won't do it."

She let out an exasperated breath. "Yatsuhiro listen…" Katsue's eyes widened when she saw her fellow teacher appear next to the boy and slap him across the back of the head.

"Finish this with honor boy." He spat the words out.

Yatsuhiro gently held out his hand with the fingers in the ram sign and Tenten completed the reconciliation seal.

_Well that was one way to end things; at least she showed more restraint this time._

"I'll take him aside and explain a few things about the importance of tradition."

"Very well." _It must he hard for him, seeing the boy he cares about getting beaten down so easily, never the less that attitude against an opponent with a reputation would have gotten him killed in a real fight._ "Now the next spar will be…"

* * *

><p>This chapter was sadly a bit rushed and still needs some work, with the way things are going in real life chapter 15 could take a serious blow as well.<p>

Chapter 14

- The story in this chapter is a translated version of a Romanian tale.

- I initially wanted to change the building a lot however I realized that that would raise many eyebrows in the world I set up so that got scrapped for later.

- Kurys – this part is from wikipedia

- Tounela – this part is from Wikipedia, a Finish belief not something made up. This was actually supposed to be part of a mission later on with a character getting stuck in a place like that, sadly it got cut and I ended up placing the bits and pieces that remained in this chapter.

- Not the best work with the fight scenes

- A fight scene between Neji and Tai got cut from this chapter.

- More scenes with Tenten's study group got cut as well.

- Quotes from :

- Joe Abercrombie - The Heroes, present and accounted for.

- Yozora Mikazuki (Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai)

- Black Star (Soul Eater).

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	15. Chapter 15 : Year Three part II

**I do not own Naruto**

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – normal thoughts  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><strong><em>Listen<em>**** – biju, higher being thoughts**

**Chapter 15 : Year Three part II **

Chouji and his father had walked several miles on their journey, for the last hour they were traversing a deep forest, Chouza seeing the boy tiring and wanting to get there quicker had picked up little Chouji and was carrying him on his shoulders, the boy was using his arms to hold onto Chouza's head while he increased the pace.

Finally Chouza slowed down his pace when the two entered a clearing with a large stone with different familiar symbols on its smooth surface; several other stones of various shapes and sizes were spread out in the clearing with a good number of them having small holes in the middle.

Chouji looked at the different stones with curiosity. "What are these?"

He smiled looking at them and remembering the time he visited them with his own father, a tinge of nostalgia entered his voice. "Ah those are sacred stones; they've been here since before the clans claimed this land. Don't worry about that, this here" he pointed with one hand at the largest stone in the clearing "is what we're here for. The mark on the right is the Akamichi clan's symbol, see?" he tapped the symbol with his index finger.

Chouji nodded, the symbol was very familiar; he had seen it in several places in his home and around the compound.

Chouza scratched his chin looking at the other symbols, while the base remained the same through time; various small changes were made to them before returning to the original design. _Some clan heads just wanted to distinguish themselves somehow._ "Let's see… the center one's the Nara and left is the Yamanka. We've each mastered some very rare secret ninja techniques." He shivered for a small moment. _I can't forget the training with the water barrels I had to go through to get that technique down._ "Our three clans have teamed up and worked together for generations." A grinned settled across his face as he remembered all the good times spent with his teammates during the early days of their team's formation.

Chouji struggled with the decision regarding his question before deciding to ask it anyway. "Could I work with others as well, like my new friend Naruto?"

He frowned for a moment before shrugging making sure to hold onto his son. "Well I don't see why not son not every generation ends up working together, sometimes things just don't click or there are other incidents." _Of course a Yamanaka had to comment about a female Akimichi's size, that team went down in history as one of the damn worse. The Nara who decided not to intervene in the conflict as it was too troublesome didn't help either. Oh he claimed they needed to work it out on their own, however when he saw that things where just getting worse he should had stepped in._ He let out a tired breath deciding to forget the matter; all it would do was to get his spirits down. "Your grandfather had a very different team and he turned out well enough." _At least of what you know._ "I take it you like your new friend?"

"Yeah, he's nice."

Chouza scratched his chin thinking on the subject, he wasn't an expert on seals and couldn't say how strong the one holding the Kyuubi back was however if the Hokage felt he could stay in the village then it would mean that it was strong enough. That didn't include the fact that the Yondaime had been a seal master, considering the night of the sealing there was a chance that the man had made a mistake or rushed things; he doubted that for the most part, the Yondaime had been the fastest person alive. _All in all whatever mistakes could have been made would have had been fixed by Jiraya of the Sannin, so any problems should in theory at least be fixed. _

His father's team had the man who would become the Yami of the shinobi world on it, the Shimura had never held any special bloodline or clan technique like his own and yet the man had become well know in the world for his strength and skill. _Besides having the Kyuubi in him the boy doesn't appear to have anything special to him, maybe he can become strong as well._ "Hmmm, we'll see what the future brings son. Now back to our history lesson, to strengthen our unity, its tradition that the Sarutobi clan, give us gifts of specials earrings, that we present in turn to each new generation when they swear their own oaths."

Chouji touched his father's earring looking at it in awe. "And this is yours? The heads of the other clans wear one too…but the getting your ear pierced must hurt."

Chouza nodded looking towards his boy. "It's so we never forget the oath we take…the earrings are always there, whispering it into our ear." He touched his own earning, remembering all the times he heard the whisper in his ear, from the time he got pierced as a young lad, to the time during the war when he was buried under the earth with trees and the corpses of the enemy atop of him blocking out the sun, to the dead of night when he'd awake because of the whispers. He closed his eyes banishing those memories_. No, not an easy life._ He steadied his voice. "You're going to have to get pierced too someday son."

"Aaww come on."

He added more force to his voice this time. "Son you'll wear my earring from the day you become a genin to the day you become a chunin. That way my oath gets burned into your memory too." _You need to accept this son, just as I did before you._

Chouji's voice trembled while speaking the next words. "But it's gonna hurt."

_You do not know anything yet my boy._ "There are a lot worse kinds of pain in this world son." He briefly touched his own earring. "Don't worry about this small matter though my boy, when the time comes it'll be over in a flash, you'll barely feel the pain."

"Promise?"

He smiled hearing the shift of his son's voice. "Of course! Now how about we go back and eat some of your mother's cooking?"

Chouji cheered even more hearing that. "Oh yeah that would be great!"

* * *

><p>Tenten hit the training post again, <em>right punch, left kick<em>, she let out an exhausted breath, _knee and elbow strike. _Slowly she brought her tired head against the post resting for a moment before slamming it violently against it; her last conversation with Yukimura was at the forefront of her mind.

"What's it about?" she admitted being curious about what he wanted to discuss, usually every thing was talked about out in the open.

"You know how we've been training you to be able to stand up to Naruto in a fight?"

"Um yes?" A tinge of uncertainty was mingled in her question.

"However given that he's had a lot more time of training when compared to you that has given him an advantage. We did learn from teaching him and used it when we taught you hence why you've been able to make such great progress."

She nodded still waiting for him to get to the heart of the matter.

Yukimura let out a sigh. "The problem is that, given his very own nature he has more chakra and stamina then you."

"His nature?" _Is something different about brother?_

"We believe he had shinobi parents or at the very least grandparents, he was born with greater reserves then others, and with the combination of the seal on him and my presence…."

Her eyes widened as realization struck her. "His reserves are bigger and will only get bigger."

Yukimura nodded looking somberly at her.

She felt a whole in her stomach, a part of her already knew the answer to her question, and she just needed confirmation of the worst now. "What about me?" The words felt like they left her throat being pulled by a hundred horses, the look on Yukimura's face only helped to confirm things.

"It appears that your parents were civilians, your own reserves are normal."

She nodded numbly the pit in her stomach growing ever larger, she wasn't even fully aware when the next words left her mouth. "And given how girls always seem to have less chakra then boys…"

Yukimura shook his head, that actions helped raise her spirits even if just slightly. "That's not always the case; there are plenty of women who have more stamina then men."

_So there's hope if you have good genes? _

"However given his situation, Naruto has a large advantage over you in terms of both stamina and chakra."

Her eyes widened remembering something. "The chakra exercises we've been doing…"

"Yes" he nodded "while it has helped your reserves grow and your control over them has increased."

A second wave of realization hit her. "Brother has been doing them for longer then I have…"she tightened her fist "… his advantage is even greater."

Yukimura nodded. "Yes…right now your own reserves are impressive for someone your age, with time they will become even greater."

She grited her teeth thinking about the matter. "All of the clan members have these kinds of advantages don't they?"

"Usually yes, they have an advantage regarding chakra when compared to civilian born children. It does depend of the parent's genetic material, and there are cases when even clan born children do not have the same abilities as their parents."

"So I'll never be able to match him, I'll never be able to beat him in a fight." She felt her watering as she thought about the matter. "Why tell me this?"

"Because" he smiled and patted her on the head "if you're willing we'd like to try something else with you."

She swallowed hard looking at the man. "What?"

"A new training regime, we'll rework your current one so you can still learn the things Naruto does, however we want to change your physical training."

She felt like a spark was being ignited in her body, she swallowed hard again pushing the word out of her mouth. "Why?"

He ruffled her hair with a grin forming on his face. "So you can stand on even ground with your brother. We want you to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with him, it's true that he does have advantages when it comes to chakra and stamina, expecting you to somehow catch up to him right now wouldn't be fair. So if you want we'll help train you so you can catch up to Naruto and see if you can surpass him."

"You mean it?" Try as she might she couldn't keep her voice steady.

Yukimura gave her a cheeky grin. "We did say that we'll help you achieve your dreams, you want to become a legend don't you?"

She nodded feeling a fire course through her veins.

"Your training right now is helping you get there, however if you want to be able to stand on even ground with your brother in regards to stamina and chakra then a change is needed. You can think about …"

"I'll do it!" She shouted jumping at the chance.

"Perfect, Sayaka and I also have about something else for your fighting style…."

She smiled lifting her head from the mat and prepared to continue, the pain in her body felt like a pleasant warm fire now. _One hundred more then I'm done. _

She smiled again as she began throwing punches and kicks once more. "Practice makes the master."

As focused as she was she never noticed the jounin who was looking at her from the shadows, one that decided to keep on eye on her for the future because of her youthful training; one that had visited the academy to see a potential student.

* * *

><p>The sun was setting bathing the village in an orange light, in market district people moved about minding their business.<p>

"Which one do you want?"

The small girl scrunched her nose while looking at the different cloths in front of her. "Can I get the red one mom!"

"Alright, sweaty." She nodded towards the shopkeeper giving her the cloth, the woman nodded and smiled recognizing her, even if just in passing they knew each other, as a merchant in Konoha one ended up either hearing about the rest or actually meeting them.

They had only taken a few steps when her daughter stopped and looked towards their left.

"Uh" her voice seemed filled with annoyance and exasperation "there's that boy from my class, he's so annoying, he keep's trying to show off Sasuke-kun!"

She looked to her left and easily spotted the boy in question, personally she dreaded looking at him, she know what he represented and how he was a sour subject with the merchant community of Konoha. Unlike a part of the merchants she personally didn't hate him, far from it, it was only thanks to him that had she and her husband had finally been able to shore up their business and open their own shop. Her lips curved up into a small smile. _No more long nights spent on the roads and away from his family for Kizashi-kun._

At first she and her husband agreed with the other merchants on the matter of how they should treat the boy, she had lost acquaintances in the Kyuubi attack like everyone else; her friends however lost their homes and shops. She had held a grudge against the boy, however it dissolved slowly over time, not seeing the boy had helped greatly, and to her shame she felt joy when she saw him at the market and he looked sad and miserable.

It broke her heart when she realized that she was taking joy in the suffering of a child, she had learned from some of her merchant connections that the boy had failed the academy the first time he had joined it, he had been involved in some sort of scandal as well, one in which he was first accused of being a thief, the same that had become active around the market, only to be revealed as innocent and framed by a fellow classmate hoping to push the blame on him.

She didn't know when her feelings had started to change regarding the boy, perhaps it had been the time in which she hadn't seen him or perhaps she reckoned it was because she had not suffered as much as the other people in Konoha or of the recent incident that involved her family.

Still she couldn't do much to help him out of fear of being ostracized by the other merchants, the boy's biggest act, unknown to him, was causing the downfall of one of Konoha's biggest merchants and one who held a particular strong torch against him. Causing the downfall had been an accident however it repercussions had been real enough, the Hokage wouldn't sit idly by and allow such things to occur.

She scowled before her features softened again. _The man was an idiot if he believed that the Hokage wouldn't retaliate after giving the boy such food, worse if the rumors are true then the Hokage had actually eat some of the food as well._ Now all the merchants had to be on their toes around the boy, no one knew who could be next if they sold the boy any bad food.

Even now some merchants still raised the prices whenever the boy came to their shop, even if it wasn't by much, a top of five percent, for them every piece counted, it was seen as some sort victory. Ensuring in their own way a form of revenge by depriving the small boy of the money he would need to spend on anything else. She was glad when she heard that the boy had a small network of merchants that gave him fair prices, even if it was out of fear it was better then nothing.

_At least he has someone who will be fair towards him. I can't do much to help him, even if a part of the merchant community is neutral towards him now, the part I have business ties are still on the fence about the issue. I just hope he can survive on his own, perhaps in the future I'll be able to help, even if only a little. _

She looked around herself and lowered her voice before answering. "Dear, maybe you should give him a chance, he doesn't look so bad."

"No way! He thinks he can outshine Sasuke-kun!"

Mebuki shivered at the look in her daughter's eyes, considering her family's long tumultuous history and the recent incident within her family. _No I can't lose you to, we already lost her. I won't lose you as well! _"Let's go home Sakura." _Another visit to the doctors won't hurt, just to make sure that she's alright. _She grabbed her daughter's hand and began walking at an increased pace towards their home.

* * *

><p><em>Now this feels all too familiar.<em> Naruto looked around himself while in the classroom; a part of his classmates had alienated him already, he didn't doubt that their parents had put in a good word about him, while his crafted persona didn't make him the most popular person in class it didn't warrant out right alienation. _Well at least it's not all of them; it feels more like last year then the first time I joined the academy. _

His boisterous personality had attracted a few good laughs and smiles as no matter what defeat he suffered he just shrugged it off and promised to worked harder and do better next time, of course the results varied, from good in shuriken throwing and spars to bad in kunai throwing and academics, it was a masterful performance on his part and to a degree he enjoyed it as well.

His eyes stopped on one particular person in the classroom who sat further away from him. _Odd,_ _the Hyuuga girl either doesn't know or doesn't care about the bad rumors regarding me. She still looks at me with such clear eyes, not even the Aburame boy does that. Perhaps I should approach her, after all this time my only friends are still Yakumo and Chouji._

He looked to Yakumo who sitting next to him. _I guess she has proven trust worthy enough; I can try teaching her a few things. I'm curious to see what she will say to my proposal. _

He playfully hit her right leg before leaning in to whisper. "Yaku-chan, can we talk after the class?"

She gave him a dirty look for the nickname, something that she didn't particularly enjoy; the girl nodded towards the teachers rolling her eyes in annoyance.

_Yeah I don't care_. He looked at her with his most innocent face. "So can we?"

She rolled her eyes again this time in exasperation before nodding her head.

_Heh, I win again. Maybe I should get the others involved in my pranks as well. _

* * *

><p>Katsue took another sip of drink thinking about her current dilemma, she had been struggling with the matter for almost two weeks and needed to make a final decision<em>. I can't deny that the students are improving their taijutsu,<em> she bit her lower lip, _however even if we are ninjas this goes beyond what's acceptable. In the long run it will destroy their bodies, no matter what progress they make now it will cost them in the future._

She saw the changes in the student's bodies, _muscles like that don't just develop over night,_ and knew what could have caused such drastic changes. _I know_ _Yujiro-san wanted to help_

_Yatsuhiro, however this was now gone far beyond what was acceptable. _She tapped her fingers on the desk after placing her cup down_. I wonder how the headmaster will react to this. Right now it can go two ways, either he knows about it and will silence my one way or another, or he will be as surprised as I was. If this get's out it will definitely change the game he is playing with the Hokage._

Taking a deep breath she got up from her desk and started making her way towards the headmaster's office. _A shame for this to have happened, things had been well enough until now, the students were making good progress. And now who knows what will happen to the students, it may just destroy their shinobi carriers._ She tightened her fist making her way down the hallway. _It worse knowing that Yujiro has taken advantage of when the students when they were vulnerable rather then encouraged them he has turned them on their own fellow students. _

She took a moment to compose herself as she reached the desk of the headmaster's secretary. _Well no matter the moment of truth has arrived. _She put on a smile as she looked at the woman. "Good day Shuji-san."

The woman nodded placing a sheet of paper on the desk and looking at her with her grey eyes. "Miwa-san, do you wish to schedule an appointment with the headmaster?"

Katsue shook her head keeping a professional tone. "If it's possible, I want to talk to him today, it's a rather urgent affair" she lowered her tone and added more emphasis on the last word "as it is sensible."

The secretary's eyes briefly widened and she nodded motioning towards a chair. "Please take a seat, the headmaster has been in a meeting, however I will inform him of the matter."

For a moment she panicked and waved her arms. "I don't mind waiting for him to finish his meeting, I don't want to impose if…"

The woman chuckled and gives her a reassuring smile. "It's quite alright; given the nature of the meeting he's having its best if it ends quickly."

"Well alright." Katsue followed the woman's pace taking note of the woman's body language as she knocked and entered the headmaster's office. _She still carries herself so well even after all the time she's spent behind that desk._ She chuckled raising a hand to her mouth. _Well the woman's a credit to the kunoichi profession, a shame she isn't a teacher herself. I know she was a jounin before she ended up here; rumors had it she was even an Anbu member before she burned out. Huh thinking back a lot of us burnouts seemed to have ended up here, _she absentmindedly rubbed her chin_. I have to wonder if we really are the right people to teach young children. _

"Miwa-san" the woman had an amused look on her face "you may enter the headmaster will see you now."

_What about?_ "His meeting…" she asked slightly puzzled. _I supposed if it was a ninja he could have left through the window. Bloody damn doors, I used to snub them as well when I was on active duty, now it just seems disrespectful._

"It's quite alright, please enter."

Katsue saw the smirk on the woman's lips however she didn't know what to make of it._ I can't be a trap to get rid of me, so what's got her acting this way._ "Thank you." She quickly got up from the chair and entered the office.

_Ah so that's what that expression meant_. She knew the man sitting in front of the headmaster's desk, not personally but by reputation. _Kafu had talked a lot about how strong and skilled the man is, the story is that his father managed to hold off Kiri's seven swordsmen with just taijutsu. _She took in the rather unique hairstyle, the bushy eyebrows and the very unique dark green suit he was wearing; the other part of the man's reputation had to do with his rather odd personality.

The headmaster smiled motioning towards his guest. "Ah Katsue-san, I don't know if you have the pleasure of meeting Maito Gai yet."

"No", she shook her head, "not yet."

"Katsue-san here is one of our teachers."

She held out a hand towards the man, who in the blink of an eye was out of his chair and shaking her hand. _So fast! _

"Yosh, a pleasure to meet someone who is helping to kindle the fire of youth into the next generation!"

She smiled and nodded words lost to her.

The headmaster continued with a tone of happiness she had never heard him speak in. "Gai here is an old student of mine, I asked him over because there's someone who reminds of him at the academy. Sadly we got lost talking about the old days" he let a chuckle escape his lips, "or should I say youthful days."

"Nonsense Nakatani-sensei, our youthful days our only just ahead of us!

_Well his reputation is deserved._

"That they are, well I thank you for helping with that matter Gai-san." The two men shook their hands before Gai turned to leave.

"A pleasure to have met you Miwa-san." The man gave her a wide smile, one that revealed his perfectly white teeth that shined, she blinked at that once then again believing her eyes were failing her.

She returned the man's smile though not as youthful. "Likewise Maito-san." _How does he get his teeth to shiny, is it a genjutsu? _

The headmaster waited a moment after the man left his office before speaking; in the mean time he motioned her to take a seat.

"Gai is a splendid ninja, one that I'm proud to have had under my wind when he was growing up. I knew the man's father when I was younger," he gently rubbed his left forearm smiling, "strong punch that one." He shook his head a scowl replacing his smile. "Gai and his father are proof of the will of fire; idiots back then couldn't recognize it even with it flaring into their damn faces. It's because of these kinds of people, who prove that they can overcome their disadvantages and become great ninja that others have taken to walking their path, and I have aided them in what I could."

_Where is trying to go with this?_ "I understand sir." She noticed a shift in the man's eyes, she couldn't place it and it had barely registered to her before it disappeared.

"Good, now from what I understand there was something you wanted to talk about? Something rather urgent."

"Yes, it's something that I have been struggling with, I know that such allegations" she saw the man's eyes widen at the word, "could have a devastating impact on someone's career. However I felt I had to approach with the matter, as ninjas we are expected to cheat, this though will hurt the students more then it could ever aid them."

"Miwa-san" the man brought his hands together looking at her gravely, "tell me everything."

"It started with…" From there she told him everything she had observed regarding her fellow teacher's actions regarding their students. How he had taken several students under his wing and how those same students had grown at an explosive rate when it came to their taijutsu-skills and how their bodies had changed. Given the short amount of the time and nature of the growth the only explanation that made sense was that her fellow teacher was giving their students steroids.

"I see" the man nodded gravely "thank you for brining this to my attention Miwa-san, I shall personally investigate this, for now I will need a complete schedule of your class's activities. Any suggestions on when Hirai -san meets with his students would be welcomed."

"Of course sir!"

She left the office feeling much lighter then before, in a sense a burden had been lifted of her shoulders and now placed on the headmaster's own. _Well that's why he's in charge._

She couldn't help but feel that something more had gone on in there, she replayed the while meeting in her head trying to figure it out. _That's was an odd conversation I had with him, what was he referring to back there? I_… her eyes widened. _That's it! The conversation about someone like him at the academy and how he has helped other students with problems become shinobi! He must want me to pass a student with a similar problem, one that Maito-san would take on as a student!_

She stopped mid step thinking on the subject, examining it from different angles. _He could be playing on the jounin's emotions to get him to unknowingly dance to his tune_. _Tsk, hands down Nakatani-san you are good at playing these kinds of games, well it's not like I can do to much to change things and it's not like they don't have a point. One side it look's like manipulation on the other if Maito-san and his father before him managed such a thing who's to say someone else couldn't reach similar heights? Uh…talk about a double sided sword._

* * *

><p>Yakumo tapped her foot on the ground. "So what is this about?"<p>

The two were at one of the training grounds the academy had, considering the amount of classes and students the academy had at one given point he wasn't surprised to find an empty. The problem was that not many students inquired about making use of the fields, there were rules about using them, however it wasn't such a large hurdle to jump, his sister and her group had managed to make use of a field easily enough.

"Well, I" he fidgeted for a moment looking away from her eyes hoping to show a convincing nervous façade; this was an important step in telling her about his status and a way to later cement her loyalty. "Um actually wanted to teach you something that can help you."

She looked at him surprised. "Oh what?"

He gulped once. "A martial art."

Yakumo raised an eyebrow at him and began tapping her fingers against her left arm. "You want to teach a martial art?"

"Um" he scratched the back of his head. "Well I came up with a couple things while I was at the academy before, and I think there's something that could help you."

"Really? And you never used this before because you wanted to be fair to the rest of us?"

_Oh I can almost taste the sarcasm on her voice, well seeing is believing_. He kept his goofy smile on. "How about a spar right here and now?"

She shook her head. "I need to get home."

_Amusing she actually thinks she's better than me at this, she knows that even if I don't pay attention in class I still pull through somehow. _He kept his mouth shut until Yakumo turned her back to him; his voice took on an amused yet still sincere tone. "Running away? Well ok you are a girl after all."

Yakumo stopped mid step, her voice carried a new edge to it now. "What did you say?"

_Something that would have gotten me killed if sister heard me._ He got into his stance. "Did I stutter or something?"

Yakumo narrowed her eyes at him. "You're forgetting you don't win our spars."

He cranked his neck_. This is what I get for holding back so much around her_. For a moment he considered dropping the mask however he reconsidered that would reveal too much too soon. He kept an amused smile on his face and tilted his head to the side looking at her like he had just heard a great joke. "And you do Yaku-chan?"

She gritted her teeth in response. "Fine, I'll go all out this time."

He made a come here motion with his hand.

Yakumo charged forward and sent a palm strike to his chest, he kept his smile and slapped her hand away before replying with a palm strike of his own to her left shoulder that sent her to the ground.

_Well that lasted as long as I expected. _"Again?"

His only response was her getting off the ground and settling into her stance, he had to give it to her she was persistent it took another four tries before she stopped.

"How!?" she clenched her hands into fists. "I could see the weak spots in your defense! So how? You were never this good before."

His face took on a more serious expression now, something that he couldn't say he had show her often enough. "Yakumo, I've been at the academy for three years now, before I was always up against bigger kids then me, you've seen how the teachers look at me haven't you?"

She nodded.

"I learned how to survive and adapt while here." He gestured to the academy ground around them.

The girl had a puzzled look on her face that turned to intrigue. "So why not use this style in our spars and in the academy ones?"

"I uhh just kind of get excited about how great I'll be and stumble about what to use and stuff." He shrugged. "By the time I decide what to use I'm already beaten."

"And in our spars?"

He lowered his head to the ground not looking her in the eyes. "I wasn't sure how you would react… usually when I started doing good the teachers would just make it harder for me, the other students just kept their distance from me. I was worried you'd do the same thing."

She got up and squeezed his shoulders smiling. "You're and idiot, I wouldn't have done that."

He still refused to meet her gaze. "And if your uncle told you?"

"What?" she took a step back shocked by the question.

He looked toward her now meeting her gaze. "You've seen how the teachers look at me; your uncle isn't that far off either."

"No" she shook her head "he…"

"Listen I want you to look at your uncle's face when you talk to him about me, actually look at it and see his reaction, don't tell him about what happened today, just ask him what he thinks about me, tell him that you've noticed that the teachers look at me funny."

Comprehension flickered across her face. "That…they do look at you funny…why is that?"

He gave her a toothy grin in response. "You're a smart girl Yaku-chan, I'm sure you will figure it out."

A small amount of anger entered her voice. "Don't call" she stopped midsentence looking at him with new eyes. "How much have you been holding back?"

_Smart girl._ He tilted his head giving her a toothy grin. "What are you talking about Yaku-chan?"

She scowled at him. "Don't try and fool me! If you were holding back here then where else have you been holding back?"

He smiled and narrowed his eyes at her. "Awww, I already said it didn't I, Yaku-chan? You're a smart girl I'm sure you'll figure it out." Leaving the stunned girl behind him, he made his way back to home. "Well time for me to get going, I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

><p><em>Now this is odd<em>. Tenten first noticed something was different after she defeated Yatsuhiro Okuma, seeing her teacher approach the boy after the spar she chalked it off to him simply correcting the boy's attitude and encouraging him. The issue that caught her attention was just how much the boy grew after his defeat, _and not just him_, she remarked, a number of the people she defeated seemed too had grown in leaps and bounds when it came to their taijutsu skills.

Being able to match the others in her study group in taijutsu in just a few months seemed to much for them, the other detail was the change their bodies exhibited, their muscles had grown far more then she thought possible in such a short time. _In fact it seems the only reasons they are able to match the others is the brute strength their showing._

She looked over the muscles of one of the students. _Even with my training I haven't been able to put on those kinds of muscles in such a short time. So what are they doing? Everhthing seems tied to Hirai–sensei. _

For the most part she may have had had continued to ignore it had it not started to affect the closest thing she had to friends in the class. Thanks to her own taijutsu skills she wasn't allowed to spar often with her classmates, given that she usually ended things before the other person knew what was happening and her more brutal approach in some situation it wasn't that surprising. No the problem was that the people close to her were being targeted now; their own spars involving a lot more violence from their opponents.

The Hyuuga boy was bad enough, she had never fought him in a spar just yet, however he ranked second after herself, he was skilled, that was something she couldn't deny, combing that with his fine eye for detail allowed him to devastate his opponents physically and if need be mentally as well.

She had hoped to fight him and shut his mouth however the awaited spar never happened. An interesting result was that everyone in the class wanted to see the two of them fight; bets had already been made on who would win. With the recent issue even the Hyuuga boy had found himself pushed hard from those he defeated.

"Next fight Tenten Sanada and Hyuuga Neji."

_What…?_ Her head snapped to Hirai–sensei, a brief look revealed that Katsue was present. _So is he doing this behind her back? Is he hoping that he can approach the loser of the fight to join him? _

"Oh….snap!" she didn't know who said the words however that seemed to sum up all of the assembled students thoughts.

_Well this is going to be interesting!_ She held out her hand in the classic sign before an academy spar. "This has been a long time coming." She noticed the boy nod and complete the sign as well.

"We shall see whose fate it is to win."

"Right…fate."

Yujiro Hirai looked between the two before letting the fight start. "Begin!"

Raising a hand the boy made a hand sign and his byakugan sprang to life, the veins around his eyes bulging.

_So I finally get to fight it._ "This is a surprise, brining it out like that, she could hear the hushed murmurs front around her, "you've never done so from the start of a match."

"I will not underestimate you."

"Good" she got into her stance grinning "prepare yourself then." _I can have some fun now._ She couldn't go all out against him, no, that was reserved only for her brother; still she could still have fun against him.

The two sped forward exchanging a floury of fast paced blows, only a few of the students were able to keep up with the speed. The Hyuuga tried to attack the tenketsu points in Tenten's body while she deflected the attacks and countered managing to land a few hits on the boy's chest and arms.

Tenten smiled as they broke apart, she had allowed only a few attacks to graze her arms, seeing her opponent's ragged breaths, given the boy's age she knew he couldn't keep her byakugan active for long. She had observed the boy fighting using his bloodline and without it, she noticed how the boy was always more winded after using it. Her brother agreed after discussing her observations that the bloodline must be costing the user a certain amount of chakra. Through the training the amount needed to keep the bloodline active would naturally decrease and their skills with it would increase, sadly for her opponent he was still very young and didn't have the reserves to keep fighting for a very long time using it.

"Not bad" she gave him a cocky grin, "is that all?"

"Fate may favor you at the moment; however," he switched his stance bringing his left foot forward and lower his knees ever so slightly, "I am not yet defeated."

"Heh." _Good keep that attitude up._

Her opponent sprang forward using his right hand to strike at her left shoulder.

Tenten wanted to laugh knowing what the boy wanted to do after fighting so many opponents in the god realm his move wasn't a surprised, it was sadly for him clear from a mile away. _Well let him get his hopes up before I break them down and then use them to start a fire and eat dinner over them_.

When the blow missed its mark the boy spun quickly and used his left hand to send a blow to her stomach and his right hand to her left shoulder again.

She dodged the first and second blow surprising her opponent while getting slightly closer to him and throwing a right punch towards his head that he barely manages to dodge. "You sure are good with those eyes of yours" her smile took on a blood thirsty edge to it, "how about I take them from you?"

The boy's eyes managed and managed to take a single step back before Tenten using her extended right arm bent it and used her elbow to strike his head forehead above his right eyebrow splitting it open causing the boy to drop to his knees like a puppet who's strings were cut.

_Well that's that._ She took a step back as Hirai sprang forward and was checking her downed opponent, she noticed from the corner of her eye Katsue arrive on the training field, her classmates were still speechless.

"I…" Katsue looked at her fellow teacher taking in the scene "damn it Tenten, I was only gone for three minutes!"

She shrugged. "It isn't that bad, just a simple cut_." And the force required to knock him out, of course but they don't need to know. _

Katsue checked over the boy as well and spoke a few words with her fellow teacher. "That's it, your coming to headmaster's office for this!" She looked around the field. "The rest of you are not allowed to leave this place, stay here and performs katas or physical exercises."

She saw her other sensei leaving the filed with the Hyuuga most likely taking him to the nurse's office to better treat the cut.

Katsue grabbed her shoulder forcefully and began walking towards the academy. "Let's go."

_Well let's see where this goes, I already have my excuses planned out. _

* * *

><p>The trip to the headmaster's office was mercifully quiet and uneventful; Tenten had gone over what she would say to defend her actions during the walk and was grateful for the quiet time. She noticed how the woman, who she assumed was the secretary, gave them a surprised look before composing herself.<p>

"Miwa-san, this is a surprise, what can I aide you with?"

"I need to the headmaster concerning one of my students actions during a spar that resulted in the other one being left with an open wound on his head."

"I see, I will inform the headmaster, a moment please."

_Well I know at least that she isn't kidding about the matter_. She realized just how angry Katsue was seeing how quiet the woman had been to the trip and still was.

The secretary returned quickly enough. "The headmaster will see you now, please enter."

Katsue shoved her from behind towards the office. _No need to shove, I'm not afraid._

Seeing the man up close Tenten had to admit he did look like a veteran warrior, the only other shinobi of similar age that she knew of was the Hokage. "From what I understand there has been some sort of altercation just recently." His tone was strictly business yet still carried a warmth to it.

"More then that sir." Katsue hissed.

"Oh?" his tone took on a mild curious tint. "Please tell me."

And she did, or at least she explained what she saw and what she confirmed had happened from the other teacher.

"I see" his voice hardened and his presence seemed to tower over her like a mountain, it might have impressed her had Sayaka not done far worse. "Well my dear I have to ask about your actions, how do you explain them?"

"I know that I went too far with my attack" that seemed to at least get a small reaction out of them, "however I am not sorry for it."

"Explain."

"Sir, I understand that as shinobi we will find someone who will try and break us with their words, and I know we need to resist such a thing, but when those attacks comes from one of our own, who flaunts his strength, not really true, and goes on how it is his fate to win and the other people's fate to lose and never win against him? No I can't accept that, I made a stand against him." Seeing the two hesitate she continued. "Aren't we supposed to stand up for our comrades no matter what opponent we faced? Even when that person is one of ours? Isn't that what the will of fire is all about? Isn't that what she is supposed to do?! That's what I did, and I will do it again in the future."

"I see…you are correct about the will of fire." He turned towards Katsue "Is what she said about the boy true?"

"To a degree yes" Katsue nodded placing her hands over her chest. "perhaps not as bad as she made it out to be" Katsue stopped for the briefest of moments, perhaps to let her imagine victory only to steal it away. "However I have already spoken to him about his attitude, he does not flaunt his skills."

_What she actually talked to him about it? That's good, but I'm not giving up the argument that easily._ "You don't see how the sad and distraught the people he defeats are after the spars!"

Katsue slammed a hand down on the headmaster's desk. "I do because I talk to each of them!"

_What? _

Katsue continued the anger clear in her voice. "Yes, his attitude during the spars leaves the others distraught, however you aren't that different!"

"What? I don't leave them close to tears!"

"No" she continued exasperated "you just make all of their progress look non existent!"

"What?!"

"Well," the headmaster cut in. "I can see that their much more to this then meets the eye, I happen to have heard about your taijutsu skills and agree in that you have great potential. Tell me would you like to graduate early?"

_She could graduate early? Would she even want such a thing? No, I'm not ready for something like that._ "No sir, I want to graduate with my friends."

"What if they graduated early as well?"

"I think it would be best if we had more time to sharpen our skills and mature."

"Well said, this isn't war time; once you are out there will be no going back. I believe you understand that eventually you will have to work with other people."

"I know sir."

"Good, good."

"Now we're going to speak about by your attitude in the class as we will speak about this other students as well no properly solve this matter."

"Sir, can we speak about what some of the other students have doing?"

"Please enlighten me."

"I noticed something odd with some of my fellow classmates that Hirai-sensei has taken an interest in." She noticed how the man's eyes narrowed and even Katsue seemed to be giving her a shocked and then interested look. _I guess it isn't a surprise, has she already told him about the matter? _

"Tell me everything you have noticed."

* * *

><p>"Come you guys you're going to miss it!" Naruto waved impatiently nudging his two friends on, the three where on the Hokage monument heading for a spot Naruto had discovered that according to him had the best view. "Ah there it is." The three sat down at the spot indicated by Naruto and looked at the night sky.<p>

"It looks nice." Chouji carefully removed a small bottle from his jacket and took a sip from its contents, the trip up the monument had taken a lot more out of him then he had thought. He cast a quick look behind him, while he couldn't see the man he knew he had a guard with him, he hoped the man was in better shape then he was.

Yakumo hummed in agreement looking at the night sky, it had its own beauty to it, the three of them and Chouji's guard as well as her own uncle had travelled to the Hokage monument after Naruto convinced the two of them upon traveling to good spot he knew up there to look at all the different stars.

Naruto chuckled and then smiled looking at the sky. "There's a story about a people called the Elazan who believed that there was beauty in darkness, and that the daylight was more profane. They saw the stars as the Thousand Eyes of Krell watching them. The sun was the single, jealous eye of Krell's brother, Galt. Since Galt only had one eye, he made it blaze brightly to outshine his brother. The Elazan, however, were not impressed, and preferred to worship the quiet Krell, who watched over them even when Galt obscured the sky."

The two looked at him like he had grown a second head. "What?" he asked indignant "I do read you know!"

"It's just" Chouji began steadily "where did you hear that?"

"Um" he scratched the back of his head looking away from the two "well I hear people talking when the long distance trade caravans come to Konoha and stuff."

Yakumo nodded looking from the sky to Naruto. "It's like that story you told me about the Evening and Dawn star."

"Huh" Chouji looked puzzled at the two, "what story was that?"

Naruto gave him a toothy smile. "I'll tell you as well."

Yakumo looked on as Naruto began his story, in truth she had been looking a lot more closely at her friend recently, she had taken his advice and asked her uncle about him, the result was surprising, even for someone like her she could tell that there was some sort of resentment there. She didn't know of an exact cause for it, not something that would set her uncle and the teachers against her friend.

The thought that he was the son of a traitor or at least someone who had lost his honor had crossed her mind, yet even that seemed strange to her. _For so many people to look at him that way, just how important had either of his parents been_? _If it truly was an important mission that failed because of either of his parents, then they must have held some high rank or they wouldn't have been given that mission in the first place._

_And they uncle lets me play with him, so why? Is he hoping that Naruto can somehow redeem his dishonored parents? Does uncle think he has hidden potential and can become an ally?_ She looked closer at Naruto. _After fighting him back then I can believe that he has some strength, even if he acts like a fool he still manages to keep his position in class. _

She realized that while her friend did act like a fool, he still somehow managed to stay near the middle of the class rankings, something that many didn't expect. He had unknowingly aided her when they first met as he slipped the information about the clan heirs joining the new academy year. Her uncle had been happy to hear that bit of information, thinking she realized that while he had grimaced hearing from whom the information came from he still allowed her to keep meeting him afterwards. _Did he think that Naruto could help me further? Is that why he allowed our friendship to form back then? _

Looking at Naruto talking to the Akamichi heir, she agreed that Naruto had unknowingly aided her again, helping her meet a fellow clan heir and helping in forming a friendship between them. Even if they were not particularly close yet, the first steps had been made and it was mostly thanks to her blond friend_. I could call him a bridge of sorts._

_I still feel like guilty it like I'm using him, even if it's not intentionally. Maybe I can try helping with his studies, even if it looks like he doesn't need that much help or I could help him gain a stronger resistance to genjutsu later. _

"And that's how the two stars got their names." Naruto nodded to himself in a satisfied manner.

Chouji for his part was horrified and couldn't keep it from his voice. "Why would the boy abandon his family like that?"

"Pff" Naruto crossed his arms "that's what Yakumo asked as well, he did have a dream you know."

Chouji continued uncertain. "But to abandon them like that…"

"I don't know if I could do that." Yakumo chipped in.

Chouji shook his head. "Me neither."

Naruto let out a tired sigh. "It's just a story on how those two stars got their names."

_He does seem to like the stars quite a bit._ "You like them a lot?" she asked looking back towards the night sky.

"He does, doesn't he? I picked up on that fact, yet I've never truly asked him about it."

"Yep" Naruto nodded looking pleased with himself. "I really like looking at the night sky filled with stars."

"Why?" Chouji looked towards the sky though for the life of him he couldn't understand what the big deal was.

_Yes, I'm curious about that as well. _She wanted to find out more about her friend, and Chouji had helped in getting information that she desired without having the actually pry deeply into the matter.

"Why?" he asked surprised. "Just look at it?" Naruto sat up pointing at the sky, a new exuberance to his voice unlike anything either of them had ever heard. "Who knows what else is out there? Things we can't even begin to imagine could just be waiting to be discovered! Stuff beyond our wildest dreams could be waiting for us to find them!"

Yakumo almost took a step back. She had never seen him talk with such passion before; she realized that Chouji was just as surprised as she was. "You really like it don't you?"

"Yeah" he scratched the back of his head again looking at his feet. "Heh."

Chouji took another sip from his flask before closing the lid on it. "Well it is beautiful but I still kind of prefer the dawn."

Yakumo nodded looking towards the moon. "They both have their strong points."

Naruto for his part knew that the dawn had nothing on the dusk. Dawn always came up ugly, as if the sun was clumsy and in a hurry. The dusk was smoother, the moon more graceful. Maybe it was because the moon was more patient. _In life and nature darkness always waits._

* * *

><p><em>I think I'm getting bored with this or just maybe I've out grown it all?<em> Naruto looked around the classroom, waiting for the inevitable flood once everything started_. I placed sketches of Iruka and Mizuki with a thought balloon containing the words I'm watching you on the underside of the toilet lids. I used toilet paper to completely cover the teacher's meeting room. I even spiked the drinks in the meeting room, not to mention the reserves. _

He let out a short sigh watching a bird fly from a branch outside of the classroom, a small smile tugged at his lips. _You're free little guy, enjoy it_. She moved his head back to the blackboard a bored look on his face. _Maybe I'm just losing my touch, I have lost part of the interest for pranks, I usually did it to ensure people didn't take me too seriously, then I used it to get back at some of the teachers that insisted on being rude. Now I'm doing it for the same reasons however I just don't seem to have the passion for it anymore._

A groan escaped his lips. _And yet I still have to do them for a few years to keep the mask up, I wouldn't be so bores if sister would just let me steal some more things._ He tossed a quick look to Yakumo who was talking with Shikamaru about something. _At least teaching her helps pass the time; she has started to take to the style rather well. If she can learn to throw in some genjutsus mid fight she'll a danger on the battlefield. Not to myself, or sister, to the others though more then likely. I wonder just how much her uncle will let me corrupt her._

* * *

><p>The flask was tubular, copper, banded with straps of dull zinc; Duck drew it from a pocket of his chest armor. Ten black armored shinobi, their full squad, surrounded Duck as he unscrewed the stopper, and then dripped a few drops onto his segmented glove, only the moonlight showed the water on the black glove. As the group intoned the rite, now sacred for the squad, their voices were toneless as they rasped out; Duck dripped the water onto the ground in the place he had chosen.<p>

In a second it is undistinguishable from the rest of the ground, never the less the rite was made. Water had been given, a tradition that had started with the squad since the war with Kiri generations ago. The water users of the original squad had perished in the brutal battles with Kiri shinobi, whose own prowess with water far surpassed their own, warriors hailed as coming from a world of seas.

Even when faced with such warriors Konoha's own refused to give up the battle; they fought with everything they had against impossible odds. To those that came after the original members the ritual of offering water was created to honor the first members and never forget their sacrifice. With the water given battle could now be waged on the soil.

They stood in a circle, with Duck rising and joining their circle, ten warriors wrapped in darkness, armored and terrible. For a moment they hum a slow chant and slap their right hands against their armor. The chant over, they move with smooth precision, their weapons checked and rechecked for the mission. Tiger readied his hands for his fire jutsu, lighting flashes across the squad's captain Sparrow's kunais, he nods looking at them.

The circle breaks, not even the moonlight reveals their forms as they skirt the littered rocks along the edge of the depression, they move swiftly while hiding in the shadows. One group quickly forms, their captain Sparrow, Tiger who is carrying their communication equipment, Crow and Rabbit, another group with Panther, Squirrel and Cow and one last group with Donkey, Beaver and Duck who has the most medical training out of the group, making him the squad's medic.

No words are spoken or needed between them; quick hand signs help exchange information as the terrain is assessed. They know why they are here and what they must do. And they must do it. With a gesture of his hand, Sparrow double times them, the squad moves through the shadows heading into a canyon. Below them in a dimpled basin scoured from the pan was the target. Sparrow saw it for the first time, the newly discovered temple.

The temple had been found in recent times, a large ten kilometer square edifice with black metal walls surrounding it. Small flames could be seen inside of it with the smoke rising, the guards of the temple. Sparrow looks at it for a while, a few seconds probably, but for him an eternity of contemplation. He for he had been told of the structure, discovered recently and claimed as a monument by the rulers of the country it was in, many visitors had flocked to the place and paid large sums only to enter it. Vast amounts of hidden treasure was said to be locked within it. That interested him little; the target was a large artifact within the temple that had caught the eye of their client.

Sparrow opened his comm. _Squad, the target lies before you. We will begin on my word. Advance! _

Their objective was simple enough, acquire the item and exterminate the guards and any who oppose, the objective had been given from the highest echelons, the mission could only end in success. Another moment passes as the moon is blocked out by clouds. _Squad, move out! _

They descent the dimpled slope at a run, hidden in the shadows obscured from view.

Sparrow reaches a sloping wall of iron-buffered siding; he scales it quickly walking on its surface. Two men guard the parapet, samurai going by the pieces of their armor, and not experienced ones, their legs and shoulders are unprotected, and their masks only shields their faces and not their whole head. The two gaze towards the moon as the clouds reveal it once more, Sparrow moves, to fast for the two to react properly, a quick to move with his right hand and he slashes across one of the guard's spine up to his neck, the second falls down the lighting covered kunai embedded in his head.

Tiger reaches another part of the perimeter, the darkness he knows has become his mistress at this point, he opens a door and enters the gloom, his hands ready. For a moment bright eyes set in black masks look behind them for a second before they fall silent.

Crow leads the assault over the north wall, the enemies fall to the floor unsure of what is occurring; genjutsu ensnares making their passage peaceful. Somewhere, an alarm starts to ring. Either they have made a mistake or someone who can challenge them is present, his sharingan becomes active before he continues.

Panther crosses an open space between the temple floors cutting down enemies, huddles of bleary enemies stumble outside in confusion only to be cut down as they appear. Rabbit enters a vault of sorts by the north wall and finds three guards struggling with a large mounted crossbow, she leaps and lands in the behind the three butchering them with her sword.

Squirrel and Cow catch a dozen of the enemy as they panic; they impose a crossfire of kunai and shurikens that slaughters them all. More emerge throwing shuriken's of their own, one marks Cow's shoulder guard with a denting scar. _Someone with some skills then._

Duck moves in around them, setting up a third part to the crossfire. Between the three's barrage as shuriken's and kunai's the enemy is cut down forming a pool of blood on the temple floor. Rabbit moves from vault to vault, slaughtering, through one doorway, she turns to face a screaming guardsmen who shots three bolts from his crossbow simultaneously at her. She dodges, none of the arrow ever reaching her. The crossbow now empty the guardsmen hurries to reload it, with a swift move she cut open his face reaching the brain, she hears a resounding crack as the man's head burst open when he hits the floor.

The squad moves deeper into the facility. Between two low concrete blockhouses, Donkey is rushed by twenty guards who stream over him like ants; they wiled axes and large hammers. Poor excuses for guards in any case, he laughs as he kills them, snapping necks, splintering limbs, and slicing through bodies of those who get to close. His armor is dressed with blood; he churns through the gore into the control room stopping the alarm. Sparrow kills with another move of his kunais, Crow cuts more down with his sword, Tiger scorches, they kill and kill again.

Something stops Squirrel in his tracks, he pauses almost thoughtful, trying to make sense of things, struggling to control his emotions, his body spasms, he stands on a derrick walkway, with a good view of the room ahead of him. Looking down he sees a sword sticking out of his torso. As his legs give out, he lets out a scream in rage, he was not finished, he wanted to do more, he would never see his child grow old now, barely seeing his little girl take her fist steps and now it ended. His face hits the floor, his mask shielding his identity holds, with his last breath he tells his squad of his attacker. The squad heard his howls and knew they had lost a member of their squad.

Crow jumps to his right side avoiding a sword swipe, he turned sharingan blazing looking at his opponent, a large figure in a grey samurai armor, mere paces from him, charging with a long sword. The speed seems like that of a snails, he spots the weakness in his armor and with a quick flicker of his arm his kunai goes through the man's stomach and nips his spine. He falls spread eagled, the sword long since slipped from his grip. _Curious._ The man smiles as he closes his eyes his chests explodes showering cat with blood and flesh. _A suicide seal?_

Even as he moves to avoid it a part still reaches him. As he gags, he sees feet besides him, iron clad boots of a samurai who is standing over him, his blade raised over his head about to strike him down. A quick move from behind and the samurai turns blocking a kunai with his sword, another slashes across his stomach the armor relenting under the lighting covered kunai, his entrails spilling out of his stomach on the floor. As the samurai falls to his knees Sparrow gives him a quick death blow slicing the man's throat. Sparrow pulls Crow to his feet.

_More then we thought. _

_Is it not always this way? _

_We'll make a man out of you yet. _

Sparrow clips Crow on the shoulders in respect and encouragement as Crow cleans himself of the entrails covering him. They both turn. Another screams fills the radio. Donkey is dead. Another samurai, much more competent then rest had severed Donkey's legs and opened his stomach. Another swift cut silences him permanently; the clang of the sword hitting the metal floor is forgotten as the sound of their comrade's flesh being cut remains at their forethoughts.

Crow knows what the others are feeling; even he is not entirely without it now, the desire for vengeance burns in them. As they stride forward, Sparrow uses his radio to judge the deployment of the squad. The surgical precision of their strike is melting as the men encounter unexpected skillful enemies, the assault if hesitating. Sparrow knows he can't allow this to happen. He barks off a string of orders that redirects and fortifies the ebbing wash of his men's advance.

Sparrow and Crow meet with Tiger and Cow at a new designated checkpoint. Cow finds Doneky's body, sprawled in pieces in the shadows of a corridor. He signals Duck to it. The medic arrives, together the two removes what useful items they can from their fallen brother, his mask is taken to be given to another that will take his place, his body is burned leaving little trace of his presence their. All of the squads carry vials to help burn away the bodies of their comrades should they perish. Duck carries several more, one for each squad member.

The sounds of fighting fill the hallway of the temple, Tiger and cow have managed to encounter one of the more skilled samurai. The exchange of blows is brief but intense. Cow takes a slash across his back slicing his armor; Tiger manages to put a kunai through the samurai's left eye socket. As the samurai falls thrashing to the ground Tiger roasts him with a fire jutsu.

Sparrow and Crow skirt vaulted bunkers in the west of the temple where their objective should be located. Statues filled the corridor as do depictions that mare the walls, creatures whose mere image he can feel scratching at his mind, half human half beast like things. A small click from behind alerts them of the presence, they jump in time to avoid the sword swipe, however a large armored hand still catches Sparrow by the throat, the blade is driven through Sparrow's left hip, to late he notices the green viscous dripping from the blade. Crow tries a genjutsu using his sharingan to little effect he dives into them; the samurai is half as big again as either of them, his armor black and shiny like that of a great scarab.

Crow twits, fighting to get his sword close to the samurai's face. Blood in his mouth, sparrow fights the samurai, fights the grip, fights the pain. He writhes to give Crow a clean shot, the sword inside of his hips slices deeper cutting arteries, he blacks out. The samurai gets a hand around Crow's wrist forcing him to drop his blade and hauls him over, but this is a mistake. Now Crow has a clean shot. Though still gripped, Crow throws two shuriken; the point blank attacks impact and crush a part of the samurai's helmet reaching his skulls.

The breach is all he needs, with a swift move he grabs his sword again another quick move and he slices through the enemy's skull. The corps drops to the floor lifeless; Crow notices the pool of blood which is streaming from Sparrow's leg wound. The wound he realizes is deep. Blood drizzles out from under him, through the while in his armor. Wordlessly, for to speak would be to scream, Sparrow shudders and passes on his kunais.

Crow wants to argue, but knows that this is not the time or the place. Sparrow had been grooming Crow for command responsibilities since his introduction into the squad. Crow had always hoped that such an inheritance would be a long time coming. He slides his sword back into the scabbard and arms himself with the kunais. Two gold leafs traceries etch the sides of the ancient weapons, regarding its history and uses. The captain of the squad had always wielded the kunais. The flicks his wrist and turns the weapons over weighing them. On the ground, a stiffening island of metal in a lake of blood, Sparrow opens his radio channel and instructs them all to answer to Crow.

_Make it a clean blow. _

Crow nods grimly, by the time Duck arrives the matter is done and Sparrow has passed on. The medic clasps Sparrow's empty hand once as a gesture of honor. He opens pocket and retrieves a scroll, the one that holds the vial needed to destroy his old comrade's body. The wound had sliced a major artery; worst was the poison that had slipped into the bloodstream. With better medical care and time it would have been something he could have lived through, but there was no time, the expertise or the supplies needed.

Crow opens the command channel and speaks to his men; they hail him with grim solemnity and utter devotion. Sparrow would be mourned later. Beaver reports the southern perimeter secure, and Rabbit and panther add that all opposition has ceased. In fifteen minutes they have killed one hundred guards and the samurai with them. For the loss of three, it has been a costly victory.

The squad regroups at the main entry of the temple, Duck and Tiger check to ensure the destruction of their comrades bodies, the corpses of their foes are left to give a grim example of what occurs when their client's wrath is incurred. Crow, Rabbit and Panther secure the item they came for, Crow inspects the item his sharingan helping to commit it to memory, it looks he realizes like a large golden egg with strange lines and circles drawn on it's surface.

Crow and panther begin to work on the scroll and seals which would be used to transport the item to their client. While the two work cat looks through the notes on the item, the new item had been found three months before in a fortified vault in the collapsed part of the temple.

The vault door had at the time been covered in strange drawings; a month had been needed to reach the interior of the vault breaking through gates using Iwa nin. _Something ancient perhaps, from a time before the rise of shinobi_. All the guards had reported feeling something in the air after the item was discovered, a strange presence of sorts.

Study of the artifact had revealed nothing in the two months since its discovery, something given the countries limited resources and possible age of artifact wasn't surprising. _There is only duty, victory and death, and all must be savored when they come._ With the item sealed Crow orders the squad to regroup, with their objective complete they leave the place. The massacre, he knows is something their client desired, a way of showing his long deadly reach. _If the future fire daimyo wants something he shall have it. _

* * *

><p>Chapter 15 – alternative title : Blood spattered debut.<p>

Anything you recognize belongs to someone else. Any overtly original twists placed on old ideas you may wish to incorporate, feel free. Completely original ideas and concepts, please ask.

I was hoping to make this chapter a double deluxe one, sadly real life got in the way so it ended up being something very different.

A heads up about the next chapter, it may not come out next month, sadly with the holidays in December and other matters I've run out of back up chapters, ch. 15 was 60% done since December, with real life getting a tad more difficult writing the next chapter will be more difficult, chances are that I will want to have a back up chapter before posting something new.

The second half is a story called BLACK GOLD, I just cut it up and changed it up a bit, however I did not write it.

Quotes :

- 07-Ghost

- Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

- Brandon Sanderson, Mistborn: The Final Empire

- Michael Connelly, The Closers

- I had hoped to build up the fight with Neji more, likewise the fight itself wasn't that good.

Review away

Constructive criticism or pointing out possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.


	16. Dramatis Personae

**Myth **

The woman in red

**The Core**

Naruto Uzumaki

Tenten Sanada

Yukimura – Kyuubi/Juubi

Sayaka

Tsuramatsu Machida – author nickname Naruto chose.

Hinata Hyuuga

**Konoha **

The powers

Hiruzen Sarutobi

Homura

Koharu

Shinobi Academy

Katsue Miwa – chunin, teacher.

Yujiro Hirai – chunin, teacher.

Shuji Akagi – secretary to the headmaster at the academy.

Magohachi Nakatani – headmaster at the academy.

Aya Aki – chunin, teacher, Konoha.

Azumamaro Sunada – chunin, teacher, pranked by Naruto by dieing him orange, had his jounin application rejected after that.

Mai Kujaku – chunin, deceased.

Kafu Okuma – chunin, teacher.

Umino Iruka – chunin, teacher.

Tomoyuki Mizuki – chunin, teacher.

Gengyo Morikawa – chunin, teacher - deceased

Naruto's classmates

Hinata Hyuuga

Chouji Akamichi

Yakumo Kurama

Sasuke Uchiha

Ino Yamanaka

Shino Aburame

Sakura Haruno

Shikamaru Nara

Ami

Sakura Haruno

Tenten's classmates

Taichi "Tai" Kamiya

Yamato Miyagawa

Sora Takenouchi

Koushiro Izumi

Yatsuhiro Okuma

Neji Hyuga

Clans

Shino Aburame

Torune Aburame

Mai Aburame - chunin

Shiki Aburame – special jounin

Hinata Hyuuga

Hiashi Hyuuga

Hanabi Hyuuga

Itsuko Hyuuga – wife of Hiashi, mother to Hinata and Hanabi, deceased.

Chouji Akamichi

Chouza Akamichi

Yasotaro Akamichi – father to Chouza

Ino Yamanaka

Taigo Yamanaka – brother to the clan head

Wazuka Yamanaka

Shikamaru Nara

Shikaku Nara

Yakumo Kurama

Sekien Kurama

Itachi Uchiha

Sasuke Uchiha

Fugaku Uchiha

Mikoto Uchiha

Merchants

Takenao Toma – merchant.

Tomiichi Kawaguchi - baker.  
>Ninsei Onishi – merchant, fresh products, fish, meat, cheese, milk.<br>Tetsui Shinsato – merchant, cloths.  
>Takanobu Hamasaki – merchant house hold items<br>Kobo Mochizuki – former big merchant

Onishi - merchant

Kizashi Haruno

Mebuki Haruno

Investigation

Joji Nakai - Investigation officer

Taura Nakai

Rinako Tagawa - Officer in the investigation concering Naruto's building

Shuichi Tao – former owner of Naruto's building.

Mikazuki Tani/Tao – first wife of Shuichi Tao

Amari – daughter from the first marriage of Shuichi Tao.  
>Kenkichi – first born son of Shuichi Tao.<br>Takamuku – second born son of Shuichi Tao.

Yoshike Yamada/Tao – second wife of Shuichi Tao.

Shizue – son of Yoshike Yamada

Yori – daughter of Yoshike Yamada

Misc.

Anko Mitarashi.

Tetsu Sasaki – chunin that helped teach Naruto skills related to living alone.

Sadakuno Goda – chunin, who is believed to have helped teach Naruto how to read and write., retired a few months later.

Shin Inaho – chunin, the son of an important merchant in Konoha

Daisuke Ono - chunin

Ryo Bakura – doctor

Tetsunori Endo – shinobi who strangled a civilian during a mission.

Wazuka Yamanaka – works at the insane asylum

Harumi Chiba – works at the insane asylum

Mototsune Iseri – insane asylum resident

Aye Kimura – librarien with the a wooden leg

Ibiki Morino

Sabiru Fujimura – jounin, spy and traitor, dead.

Tatsuya Nakao – mail clerk, spy.

Iō – head of Konoha Tool Researc Facility

Shōseki - assistant to Iō

Teuchi Ichiraku

Ayame Ichiraku

Minoru – former academy bully from Naruto's first try at the academy

The Dark

Danzo Shimura

Root Agent 33

Root Agent 41

Root Agent 45

Root Agent 92

Root Agent 134

Anbu

Kisuke Maboroshi – dead

Cat

Bear

Sheep

Horse

Boar

Crow

Chicken

Sparrow

Tiger

Rabbit

Panther

Squirl

Cow

Donkey

Duck

Beaver

The Fallen

Izaemon Tōdō – chunin

Momo – chunin

Kira Akio – chunin

Mai Akio – chunin

Hanasaki – took care of the birds in the Konoha aviary during the period in which Hiruzen Sarutobi was a genin.

Fire country

Kaguya

Kazutoshi – stable boy

Urano Nishida – caretaker to Kaguya

Ryosei Miyasaki – current bodyguard to Kaguya

Kalen – future bodyguard to Kaguya

Kenjirou - heir of the Land of Fire

Goro Inogashira – arhitect for Kenjirou

Amaru

Suna

Gaara

Kusagakure

Mui

Hiroshige – Mui's child.

The Land of Water

Yuji Ueda – Kumo nin

Shougo Aoyama – bartender on an island of the Land of Water

Traveling Merchants

Jun Koshimizu – traveling merchant.

Ami Koshimizu – companion of Jun

The Traitors

Shinga

Orochimaru

The North

Fubuki Kakuyoku – Yue's little sister

Ruri Asano – explorer that led a failed expedition trying to reach the lands beyond the White Sea in the North.

Dotō Kazahana – leader of a rebellion within the Land of Snow.

Nanao Oka – citizen

Atsushi Tamura – citizen

Land of Snow, shinobi

Yue Kakuyoku

Shoji Izumi – part of a small noble family.

Ganju Shiba

Takahiro Hirano

Hidetomo Kajōmaru

Koji Minamoto

Megumi Shiba

Rikū

Sho Hayami

Rei Igarashi

Yasushi Ōhama

Harunobu Ogidō

Ryūnosuke Yuki

Shinobu Eishima

Kaien Shiba

Nadare Rōga – leader of a rebellion within Yukigakure.

Land of Tea

Masashige Kagawa**- **Daimyo

Rieko Kagawa – first wife, deceased

Kiyomi Kagawa- second wife, deceased

Children

Yone – drowend at sea  
>Enko - target of Eiji Adachi<br>Ruma – politicaly undeseirable  
>Chiyuki – married of to another man, motherly of Mio Nagao, politicaly dead.<p>

Relatives of Masashige

Mio Nagao – granddaughter

Imari - teenage half-sister

Norogumi Seki - brother of the second wife

War Party, revolutionaries

Leader : Mitsunari Eiji Adachi

Second in command : Anzu Mazaki

Spy master : Taido Kida.

Misc

Hachiro Kenpachi

Shunji Kenpachi

Eishi Kenpachi

Gato Kenpachi

Hiroki Takahashi


	17. Chapter 16 : Year Three part III

**I do not own Naruto.**

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – normal thoughts  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><em><strong>Listen<strong>_** – biju, higher being thoughts**

**Chapter 16 : Year three part III**

"And break." Naruto smiled seeing the end result of the spar and went to a nearby tree picking up two water bottles and returning to his sparring partner.

Yakumo was panting on the ground trying to catch her breath; the two had met for an hour of intensive training, the end result of which was Yakumo completely winded while Naruto still looked fresh.

"I still can't get over that." She took one of the bottles offered to her and quickly unscrewed the lid drinking the water with gusto.

"Meh." He shrugged his shoulders. "I just have a lot more stamina than most people" he winked at her, "but you have been making progress."

Yakumo shook her head; to her it still felt that she was standing still. "It still doesn't feel like much."

Naruto chuckled scratching the back of his head. "Well, you shouldn't compare yourself against someone like me; I think I got buckets of stamina or something."

She snorted looking up with a small playful smile. "More like lakes of it."

"Heh" he rubbed the back of his head again, "yeah, hey you have been making progress if you compare your earlier spars against Chouji."

Yakumo nodded.

Given her clan's genjutsu specialization the members chose to avoid direct combat to a large degree, they did have their own taijutsu style in which they mixed their genjutsus. The problem was that from what she had seen it wasn't as solid as other styles, worst for her was that most of the information regarding the style had been lost in the fire that claimed the clan compound.

Her uncle had specialized in long ranged combat, or in his own words he had been a much more pure master of the clan arts, while he had some skill in hand to hand combat it wasn't as great as other clan members, what little he knew of their clan style he had started to train her as much as he could.

Said teachings she soon found turned out to be inferior to what she had learned from her blond friend, the style involved creating false openings to tempt the enemy and striking them down when they tried taking advantage of those false openings. What fascinated her was when she had realized that her blond friend wasn't using the style he was teaching, no he used another style entirely, one just as effective as the one she was learning.

She didn't know if her friend's parents hadn't been perhaps some sort of taijutsu prodigies or from a clan that specialized in that art, she couldn't explain how else he was able to create something so complex so easily. Yakumo put the thought aside; it was something more to think about in the future.

Naruto got back into his fighting stance. "So ready for another round?"

She groaned. "Not yet, I still need more time to recover." _I'll add stamina freak to the family trait._

* * *

><p><em>Ah, another day another small fortune gained<em>. He sipped more of his morning coffee, one that actually tasted like coffe, rather then the what passed for the drink in the lower end bars around the country_. A luxury not everyone can aford, then again not every is me. _"What of the meat matter?"

"Yeah boss" the man nodded showing of his blackend teeth "it happened like you said, we got the dumb fuck drunk after he finished his missions then gutted him like a pig" the man laughed with amusment "couldnt even put up a good fight, the boys barely got a few scratches from em."

He smiled sipping more of his coffe. "The body?"

"With the fishes."

_Perfect, more where that came from._ "No one's going to give two shits about a missing nin dissapearing."

"Heck yeah boss, the fishes been eating good for a while because of us."

"Good, you know the schedule, stick to it."

"You got it boss."

He watched as the man left through another door, he couldn't very well be seen with those kind of people in public. _Time for a more important matter. _

He looked over the table, the food displayed was to both help impress his guest and to satisfi his own hunger, it looked good enough in any case, rice cooked in a salmon and soy stock and served topped with salmon caviar, duck pieces coated in starch and stewed with mushrooms and vegetables in a soy-dashi broth.

The man who entered the room was tall with black silk kimono, he had an oval shape face with shoulder lenght dark hair with a grey streak in it, his moustache had white streaks as well. "Well met Gato-san."

"Indeed, Misao Sugawara-san." He gestured to the table. "Please sit and help yourself."

The man smiled at him. "You are far too generous, Gato-san."

He waited after they had both tasted several dishes, luckly for him his guest began the conversation.

"I believe that both parties are pleased with our current arrangement."

_Oh, yes, very pleased. _He nodded to the man.

"He has been calling in a few favours to aid in your own endevours."

_Excellent. _

"Now, because things have been going so well, my client does have a request of sorts." He promtly he pulled out a small scroll delivering it to him.

"Oh?" he raised his eyebrows looking over the list. "Two blue eyed blond women, twenties to early thirties, 1,70m, 40 – 60 kg, one purple haired man, twenties, 1,60 – 1,70 metres."

The man sipped his drink looking at him. "It's something for the future far future, though it bears consideration."

"Yes, I will certanly keep that in mind." _Heh, having favor with some of the influencial people in the Land of Fire maybe expensive, having influence with the future ruler of the land? Now that's priceless. _

The meeting ended after they discuted more details of their business, after which the man left. With the first part of his business accomplished he focused on the other part of his workload. _Still nothing new on Wave, Benisu island is a nigthmare, far to missing nin popping up all over the place, I couldn't hold it without my own army. _His attention was drawn to a new report on his desk. _Hm? This new religion is gaining ground eh? A small donation wont hurt, after all I am a man with an image to uphold. _

* * *

><p>She awoke with a gasp and rose from the bed, sweat covered her small body, her nighttime cloths clung tightly to her body, by instinct now she used her bloodline and searched the area around herself, turning her head to make sure every inch was searched and double checked.<p>

Letting out a relieved breath she collapsed back onto her bed hugging her blanket, the nightmare had in essence been the same as the last ones. This time she had heard the footsteps outside the room as they closed in on her, she heard the wood creaking from the weight pressed onto them, she couldnt move nor could she speak, she simply sat there praying that no one would enter the her room.

The praying never helped, the door opened as it always did, the person stepped inside, darkness ozzed from that person, with only a thin outline showing that there was indeed a person there. Again a hand came out and covered her mouth while the other one restrained her, a quick move and she was tossed into a sack, she heard the thing threaten her that if she talked her throat would be slit.

This time her mother came to her rescue, she heard her voice, warm and comforting as always, telling her everything would be well. The voice died a moment later, and she knew her mother was dead again. At the end things had changed if only slightly, her dream ended with her kidnapper throwing her into a fire, a hundred dark hands reaching out from the flames to grab hold of her and to pull her inside. She almost took comfort in it, at least she would be reunited with her mother, almost the voice she heard hadnt belonged to her mother nor did the red outline that formed in the fire.

She looked at the ceiling blinking and banishing what sleep she still felt, the nightmares had only gotten worse after her mother's passing, her father had told her not to pay them any heed as they weren't real, she would be able to eventualy overcome them.

Gracefuly she got out of her bed, in a few steps she reached the closet and removed a white grey robe, dressing with it, she let out a breath, before exiting her room. The cold night wind came as a pleasant greeting when she entered the hallway, quietly she began making her way towards the garden. She stopped for a moment near her little sister's room before deciding not to go inside, she had visited her sister before, this time she would let her rest uninterrupted.

A moment later she was outside walking towards her usual nightly spot in the garden, as much as she loved the place where she had spent time with her mother in the garden, it was far to difficult to go near now.

She looked around the area at the guards, they where relentless, wheter wind, sun, or snow, the guards would be there. After her kidnapping incident her father had steped up security, she didnt know what punishment the old guards had received, a part of her didnt care either, not after what happened.

Now years later the guards where still there, more alert then ever, even with the incident behind and assurances from the village, her father stil insisted on more guards for their compound.

Reaching her spot, she took a seat on the ground staring up at night sky, in the morning she would feel weaker as she always did after nights like these, which in turn would impact on her perfermonce during training that would lead to her failing even worse then she usually did, as the tears came from her eyes she lowered her head trying to cling to the few good memories she still had.

* * *

><p>He tossed the fish bones away into the fire, wiping his mouth with his right arm, the orange sky bathed everything in its light.<p>

Wtih a slow move the man ran a finger down his tools before packing them, he could feel the numerous dents on them, made by his own hands from working with the tools. Memories of the times he had worked with them since as a small boy came back pouring back, memories of smoothening the impurities from the wood, of sawing just the right amount by instinct alone.

He could still see his father and brothers faces when they whent out on the sea, the men in his family had always felt the call of the sea. He fondly remembered how the water splashed on his face the first time he had seen the sea, the strong taste of sea salt felt like something he had been missing his entiere life, like an old friend he hadn't known he had lost and had met again.

The only reasons he hadn't been with his father and brothers on the boat since he could walk had been because of being sickly the first few years of his life, during those years while the rest whent out onto the sea he had learned about being a carpenter from his uncle.

It could have been a good life had he chosen to continue working as a carpenter, however deep down he still felt the call of the sea as well, eventualy he had joined his father and brothers on their fishing expeditions.

Those simpler times always brought a smile to his face, the first trip he had on the sea where engraved into his very being, the storm had unexpected that day, he could still the the water splashing against boat, sparying him from head to toe, the taste of salt overwheliming his senses and the wind furiously beating agaisnt the sails. Even with the storms and loses, when the sea finaly claimed one of their one, his family had continued to sail and fish. The stories his father told him about how for generations their family line had this tradition, he was told about how his own grandmother had perieshed out on the sea during a strong storm, the woman had gone out with a smile on her lips.

During the storms the family worked more like a machine then anything human, they were a well oiled cog, covering for each other, it was one of the foundations he had been raised upon, that people should work together and help each other.

_And now look what has happened. _

He looked back and smiled and the man approuching him, the man had a scowl on his old face. "Hello Miyasaki–san."

"I'm still hopping to talk you out of this idea my boy, I pray something's finally connected in that head of yours."

He shook his head. "We both know thats not going to happen old man."

The man spat to his right side. "Its a foul hardy idea boy, sailing on the little boat across the sea?"

"Is it? my father and grandmother before him did as well, sailing out to the sea to fish in new spots, even delivering merchandise to he islands nearby. I can still remember the story about grandmother reaching Tea country with her boat."

"Those are stories and the sea is a fickle mistress, you could make an honest living being a carpenter my boy, nothing wrong with that, you got skill at it."

"I know, uncle, but I can't stay here, not anymore."

The man spat to his side as his scowl deepened. "It's the damn sea, it's what got your father, all of that family line was touched in the head, it lead your mother into an early grave."

"Uncle please, it isnt about that and you know it."

The man's expression softened looking back towards the village for a moment. "Things can change, the madness could still be stopped."

"Can it? No one is doing anything about, they are actively participating in it nowaways! You remember the stories about the neighbering village, what Furuta-san did? He killed his own wife! Just because he thought she had suspicious ancestry! A marriage of fifteen years and he threw it into the fires without hesitation!"

"It will end, eventually."

"Yes, and what will be left? Only ashes and dust, this country of mine, I cant see myself living here anymore uncle, this isnt the kind of place I want my children to grow up in. You remember how we worked together when father was alive, its what we did, we worked together and helped each other out, its what my family believes in. How can I live in a country that is advocating mass murder? That is going against everything I believe in?"

They both quited down and looked out at the sea.

"I want you to keep the tools."

"Uncle I..."

"No shush, my boy, considering this a parting gift, I still have my own tools so I dont need them. Keep them you never know when they can come in handy, the sea may call to you my boy, but she is a thickle mistress the earth will always embrace you in its arms without a song or call."

"Maybe" he smiled and laughed "I still like the song though."

"Aye" the man nodded before giving him a resigned smile "like all the members of your part of the family, your a bit touched in the head as well."

"Good bye, uncle."

"Good bye, Kaiza."

One last time he pushed his boat out, and left for the wide open sea, he didnt look back, behind him he was living the last of his family, his country and his shame.

* * *

><p>Katsue bit her lip looking over the students over, she maintained a calm, neutral appearance, in the inside a storm was raging, she had informed the principle about what she believed her collogue was doing in class and the man had promised to bring down the hammer, so far three days had passed in which he had investigated the issue on his own, she knew that he had looked over the assessments for the students on his own to verify their growth rate and perhaps something more.<p>

_I wonder, did he bring Maito-san in on the situation? Someone who has such skills with taijutsu would certainly be able to spot an oddity with the students. Though would he risk it?_ _If Maito-san is loyal to him there wouldn't be that much for a risk, if however he is more loyal to the Hokage it could spell disaster for him. I'm still not sure if Nakatani-san went to the Hokage about the matter, it would be a black mark on his file if it got out, certainly something the Hokage could use in forcing Nakatani-san retirement, if he wants to promote Umino to the head position._

_Who would he call in? The Police force or just regular shinobi?_ The academy staff could certainly be of use if that's the case, if Hirai isn't rusty she could take him down by herself, even headmaster could probably defeat the man.

_Well, I'll thing about it more later, he doesn't look like he's going to make a move today._

Hirai smiled to himself looking at the gathered students. "Now, we move onto the spars, today we will…."

A new voice drew their attention. "Have a change in your usual schedule."

Both teachers snapped towards the voice. "Headmaster-san!"

The man nodded at them looking over the students. "Good day Miwa-san, Hirai-san."

Hirai smiled. "To what do we owe such a pleasure sir?"

"Oh, its nothing, I just want to see something with my own two eyes."

Hirai gave a nervous smile. "Sir?"

"It's the difference between two teaching styles; I want to see the final result."

"Oh? I'm not sure I follow sir."

His eyes narrowed towards the teacher. "I think you do, now I have a list of the students you have been working with, and one that Katsue san has been working with it. Well I just want to see a small fight between members of the two groups."

"I…" he nodded "of course sir."

She nodded as well looking towards the man. "If you believe it is the best course of action Nakatani-san." _What is he playing at?_

The headmaster smiled looking back to the students. "Excellent, now for Hirai's group, Yatsuhiro Okuma, and for Miwa-san group…."

Tenten felt her jaw tighten, she knew her name would come up next; she would have to fight Okuma and beat him down with his expulsion from the program following his defeat. It didn't matter to her; he had brought it unto himself, now she would just help push things to their natural conclusion. She took a breath and moved a step forward.

"Taichi Kamiya."

Tenten froze after placing her first step. _What?_ Her thoughts her echoed by others in her class, even Tai and Yatsujiro had looks of shock on their face. She turned her head towards said chose person.

Tai sputtered looking surprised. "What?"

The headmaster pinned the boy with his eyes. "Yes, my boy, step forward, you will fight in the match."

Tai smiled and took a step. "Yes, sir, but…um…shouldn't someone else fight instead of me, I mean there are stronger students here."

The headmaster waved a hand in the air. "Nonsense my boy, I've looked over your file, and I believe you posses the Will of Fire, I have faith in you my boy, you can win this fight."

Tai smiled feeling his confidence sour. "Yes sir! Thank you sir!"

_Well, this certainly changes things; he's definitely managed to bolster Tai's morale, though why did he choose him over me? Skill wise I now I'm better, Tai has never won a fight against me, so why chose him? Going by his words it's possible that he values his attitude over mine, or perhaps he is trying to prove something with choosing Tai over me, to who exactly is still up in the air though. _

With both boys in the sparing circle Okuma looked between them. "Shake hands."

Tai reached his hand to do the mark sign when Yatsuhiro turned his back and put some distance between the two of them. Tai just looked at Yatsuhiro confused when he turned his back. "Huh?"

Yatsuhiro smile had a bloodthirsty edge to it. "I'll demolish you, so don't think badly of me."

Tai closed his fists looking at his opponent. _Bastard!_

"Fight!"

Tai barely had time to react, pushing himself down with his legs avoiding Yatsuhiro's punch that sliced through his hair. _He leaped such a large distance and that punch that is…_

Tenten raised an eyebrow looking at the scene. _So he copied my move?_ Her eyes narrowed watching the fight. _Tai don't let your guard down the next one is coming._

Tai jumped out of the way as Yatsuhiro smashed his foot into the ground where he had previously been. He quickly got back up and retaliated with a kick to Yatsuhiro's left arm; he took some joy into seeing his opponent flinch at the blow before smiling. _That hit usually hurt the others, doesn't he feel it? _

Yatsuhiro steadied his breathing. Images of how easily Tenten had beaten him, he had sent punch after punch however she easily avoided them and then knocked him out.

He remembered about how his parents had died on a mission, how he promised at their graves that he would become a strong shinobi like them. He talked with his teacher when he regained consciousness and he told him about another way to gain strength. They had wanted him to be the rookie of the year something neither had managed during their own stay at the academy.

_So that's why no matter what I wont lose anymore and I'll cut down anyone who stands in my way. _

He breathed in again before he let lose a storm of strikes on Tai who held his guard up at as Yatsuhiro wailed on him.

_Ugh, his punches are strong but…._ With a swift move Tai grabbed Yatsuhiro by his head and hit him with a knee strike to the stomach.

Hirai grit his teeth looking as Yatsuhiro was unable to withstand it. _Shakes of those hands and retreat!_

Tenten smiled. _Good Tai, very good, that knee strike helped to stop his blows._

_Tsk, so what he lasted a bit against the Hyuuga and is friend with her I shouldn't be surprised. No matter I'll win. _Yatsuhiro threw a low kick that hit Tai in his lower right thigh as he advanced to finish him off with a punch. _There's nothing to worry about_. Rather then flinching back Tai smiled and retaliated with a punch to Yatsuhiro's jaw that sent him stumbling back. _What was that? That punch felt like getting hit by sensei! _

"Heh, I don't exactly have the best style around nor can I use any flashy moves like other people, and I constantly lose to Tenten. I have however learned to use basics really well, if the others do one set of exercises I'll do three! That definitely includes punching and kicking."

Hirai grit his teeth seeing the scene in front of him. _Damn it! Come on Yatsuhiro win this, I gave you those steroids, I gave you private training, you have to be able to take him down. Bring out your real strength already. _

Yatsuhiro changed his stance looking at his opponent.

Tenten's eyes widened. _Did Hirai–sensei teach him that? Tai be careful! _

Yatsuhiro attacked with a jab that Tai managed to block with his left hand. _Ah… is this the power of a jab?_ Yatsuhiro threw a right punch and Tai moved his head in time to avoid it only to see Yatsuhiro smile. _What?_ He saw a quick movement before Yatsuhiro's right fist smash into his face. Katsue leapt and stopped Yatsuhiro as Tai fell to his knees.

"No!" Tai jumped back to his feet and shock his head.

Yatsuhiro blinked at him. "What?"

"Wow, that was bad! Heh good thing Tenten hits harder then that. I'm lucky I didn't get hit with the full force of that thing or I'd be out cold. One good thing about sparing with someone who's stronger then you is that you get really good at dodging and learning to take a strong blow." _I still don't know what that was, he used the backward motion of his fist to attack, guess I'll ask about it after I kick his ass. _

Tenten shook her head thinking about the blow. _The punch with a backward motion of the fist, is just what the name implies, the thing about it is that it's mostly used by people with thick frames and strong arms. For someone with relatively thin arms to use it, the initial condition is to prove their have the strength for it. That punch just now practically didn't have any swing unless your arms are thicker it will turn into a simple slap. Never the less, he had the power to bring the boy down, which means, _she narrowed her eyes taking in the boy's physic with a new eye_, steroids? _

Yatsuhiro gritted his teeth. _Whatever it is I'll do it! _

Hirai straightened his posture. _Come on Yatsuhiro, you can do it. We are ninja; we use whatever it takes to win! The Akamichi use their own drugs, why could anyone else as well? _

_No problem. _Tai hit Yatsuhiro with a kick to his right arm that he blocked before blocking one to his left arm as Tai rapidly switches legs.

_Shit he is fast._

"Yeah, kick his ass Tai!" Sora cheered.

Another round of Tai attacking using his legs followed with both Yatsuhiro's arms being badly bruised.

Tai launched another kick towards Yatsuhiro's right side his eyes widen when Yatsuhiro moved mid swing and through a right punch striking him in the face while his own legs hit him in the ribs.

Tai jumped back with his free leg. _Damn that hurt. _

Yamato looked on worried. "He got him again."

Sora smiled. "No worries he's not done yet."

"You really think you can stop my arms that easily?" He charged and through another punch that Tai stopped using his left arm again and was sent stumbling towards the edge or the ring.

"It's not over!" He got up after a moment of the ground and allows Yatsuhiro to come closer before striking out with a left kick that smashed into Yatsuhiro's ribs.

"You?!" Yatsuhiro grabbed Tai's leg.

Hirai felt like smiling seeing the move. _From that posture any attack will penetrate unconditionally! _

Yatsuhiro threw a left punch towards Tai's face who stopped the blow with his left hand and grabbed onto it then using what little strength he had in his free leg pushing himself forward and launched a punch that crashed into Yatsuhiro's face.

Yatsuhiro let go of Tai's leg as he stumbled back, as soon as Tai' feet touched the ground and felt his stable position Tai threw a high kick that hit Yatsuhiro's left lower hand opening his guard, he followed thorough with another set of kicks to Yatsuhiro's upper arms who's color changed to purple.

Yatsuhiro threw a right punch that hit Tai in the face after landing his last kick and he stumbled back.

"Oh no." Koushiro whispered.

"Tai!" Sora tightened her fists looking at the scene.

Tai just smiled at him. "Heh, that all you got?"

"What?!"

Tenten nodded at the display. _Those punches are useless now; Tai's kicks got rid of them already. _

Yatsuhiro grit his teeth looking at his opponent. _Even though I threw everything away and trained so hard these last few months, even though I believed I could take on those two. Just what is this difference? _

Tenten smiled. "It's starting."

Yatsuhiro ran and tried tackling Tai to the ground; he brought his head near Tai's stomach and grabbed his left leg. _I've got him._ He felt one of Tai's arms wrap around his head and another grabbing his right side. _What?_

"I have no problem abandoning my position like this, here it is." Raising himself using his arms and Yatsuhiro's body he smashed his free leg into Yatsuhiro's stomach.

_Guh_. Yatsuhiro felt the air leaving his lungs and his arms going slack.

Feeling his legs free Tai let go of Yatsuhiro and landed on the ground. _Another one then_. He hit Yatsuhiro in the jaw with another strong kick brining him down.

Tenten felt a proud smile forming on her lips. _Good job Tai._ "Its over."

Both Katsue and Hirai ran to check on Yatsuhiro, Katsue placed a hand on the boy's shoulder seeing him trying to get up again. "Take it easy you're still injured, just lay down."

Yatsuhiro tried to get again; he looked towards his opponent with half open eyes. "Guh I don't understand, who are you stronger? I walked the shortest path, so why can't it win"? His eyes closed as he lost consciousness.

Looking at Yatsuhiro on the ground, Magohachi Nakatani shook his head. _It's not the training environment or physical ability that made the difference between victory and defeat. It was the difference in mental disposition. Both of them lost against stronger opponents. However one is someone who also had his heart broken by the defeat, and the other is someone who let the defeat nourish his heart. Its simple to make a person strong with steroids but if you rely on that easy method, your mental growth stops._

_It's simple to make a person strong with scientific training or steroids, but if you rely on those easy methods your mental growth stops. Well if you polish a pebble it'll begin to shine on its own way. But it won't match the brilliance of a diamond. The most important thing in a fight isn't power or technique, the most important thing in a fight is guts. _

The headmaster looked towards the gathered students bringing forth his full presence. "Do you think that others took the easy way out when they were confronted with obstacles? Do you think the people that were in the same generation as the Yondaime Hokage weren't intimidated by him?" He shook his head. "Foolish to make such horrible decisions, even when faced with what may look insurmountable odds." The image of a young red head flashed through his mind. "You must continue to fight and not surrender, let the prodigies stay prodigies, do not compare yourself to them" an imagine of a man with dark hair, a black suit and youthful appearance appeared in his mind, "what is important is that you are stronger then the person you were yesterday." He looked towards the two teachers. "Let's clean this mess up."

* * *

><p>The atmoshpere in the tavern was like that of every night, the smell of food and liquer hanged in the air while the noise of conversations filled the rest.<p>

It was near the window of the tavern that four men stood around a wood table, each with a drink in front of them.

Kanko took another sip of his drink and returned his eyes to table, away from the plump behind of one of the serving girls. "Tsk, you see how annoying Hiroki has gotten since joing that damn cult?"

Toshiaki, the youngest member at the table looked at Kanko blinking. "You mean those church people?" He had seen them around the area talking to people.

Kanko slammed his mug on the table. "Ain't a damn church! they dont have one!" he prepared to sit on the floor before he reconsidered the gesture, he still scowled and wiped his mouth with one had. "Just a bunch a nut jobs thinking they got a god listening to em."

Taroemon waved the man off. "Meh, I couldn't give a rats ass about them, they only got a few people to join them when they where here."

Kanko nodded his head. "Yeah, but those they got are annoying as hogs during matting season, always trying to get onto people to fuck em."

"Meh." Taroemon waved a hand dismissively "I say they'll be gone quick enough, just ignore that lot."

"That isn't what I heard."

The three men turned their attention to the last person at the table who had kept quiet for the last part of their conversation.

"Oh?" Taroemon took another sip of his drink. "What'cha heard?"

Yoshitoshi Kase leaned towards them and spoke in a hushed voice. "I got this from my brother-in-law; he was up in the big city and he said he saw them there as well, even more according to him, these guys are in the capital as well. If they got there and haven't been kicked out yet, chances are there here to stay for a long time."

Kanko spat to side this time knowing of the consequence. "Well shit."

"Bah, just ignore em, I'm sure they'll leave once people ignore em long enough."

Toshiaki took another sip from his drink for courage before speaking. "That such a bad thing though, having them around and stuff?"

"The fuck would we need them for anyway?" Kanko glared at the boy.

"Well….they have their church and stuff….and their religion has a structure and stuff…"

"So what" Kanko eyed the boy with distaste "you attracted to new shiny things or something?"

Yoshitoshi shrugged turning his gaze onto one of the attendants. "I'll stick to the old gods, they worked until now, they've been since before us, chances they'll be here long after."

"Have they though?" Toshiaki asked feeling his face redden.

"What?" Yoshitoshi turned his head back towards the table.

"Been working? Their god is said to actually show his power and stuff, that he's real and all…"

"Bah" Kanko threw his arms into the air exasperated. "You've never seen shinobi, those guys can do some crazy stuff as well, wouldn't be surprised if some shinobi where behind the whole thing. Probably a couple of em running the show, using their what'cha ma call it, energy thing, to make them miracles for the cult."

The boy blink and owlish look on his face. "They could do that?"

Taroemon picked up the conversation. "Yeah, walk and walls with no problem, and even breath fire."

The boy's expression became downcast as he dropped his gaze into his drink. "You don't have to lie about that kind of stuff."

Yoshitoshi patted the boy on the back. "He isn't lying, I saw them back when I was a strapping young lad, with a woody every morning, heh," the others joined in laughing before they quitted down "had some trouble back then with a few bandits around these parts, we went to the big man in charge in these parts first. It went as expected, a few of the militia boys came here and got their asses kicked before a person saw sent to the shinobi village in the Land of Fire. A few days later a group of them showed and cleaned everything up." He shook his head. "Strange thing was they came and went before the man ever returned, crazy bastards apparently ran the entire way here and beat a horse on foot."

"Now, that I can't believe." Toshiaki shook his head. "What kind of person can outrun a horse? Much less to be a lot of them."

Taroemon placed his mug on the table looking at the young man. "It's the truth, you ain't got to believe it, just be careful when you see people wearing a headband with some different symbols on it, a couple of em tie around their legs and arms and..."

"Then it isn't a headband then." Toshiaki added.

"Yeah it is!"

"If they tie around their arm, it's an armband; if it's around the leg then it's a leg band."

Taroemon shook his head. "That doesn't matter; most of them tie it around their head."

"Well alright, but how come there aren't more of em around, they could help deal with some of the predators we got around these parts."

"Bah, we don't need em for everything."

"Damn true." Yoshitoshi toasted with Kanko over the topic.

Taroemon nodded adding his own mug to the toast. "That and the fact that our own country doesn't have a ninja village, so we have to go to other countries and hire them from there."

Toshiaki added his own mug to the toast and took a sip from it with the others. "All right, but how come we don't have one?"

Yoshitoshi smiled at the young man. "In case you didn't notice our country isn't the richest place around, he don't have a lot of natural goods, if you strip away the trade all that would be left are a few places to grow food and feed some animals, we do fishing but the Land of Fire has access to the seas just like we do. Its why we were ignored back when the other big countries popped up, we weren't that important, they would need to use to many men to keep the place then it would be worth. Over time the other islands around of us found out that they have unique materials to trade, add some of those strange trade ships that popped up from time to time here from the other continent and our country was starting to look like a real good prize so of course the big boys wanted a piece of us. Heh, poor bastards," he chuckled humorlessly "by the time they noticed us, they couldn't touch us anymore, if one made a move the others would jump them, trying to take the country over by replacing the big man on top, got the new guys executed with style, poor guy" he shook his head again "what Kiri did to him. They strung him up in the capital alongside the team that helped to put him in power, poor bastards."

Toshiaki grimaced. "That bad?"

Taroemon took a long sip from his drink before bringing it down. "What does strung up mean to you? Some of em, got poles shoved through em, while alive, and the story goes they got skinned alive first; a few looked like someone shaved their skin off." All the men at the table shivered thinking about the possible event. "Real horror stories alright, in the end the big three near us decided to let our little place in peace."

Toshiaki looked at the three confused. "That's good though, isn't it?"

Yoshitoshi made a quick sign to have their drinks refilled. "Yeah, but see, we got a reputation now, because three of the big five keep an eye on us, a lot of rogue ninja don't come here, or if they do its only in passing, and none of them would ever agree to help open up a new hidden village here. Knowing the competition they would have to be desperate to try it, so we don't have anyone to train any people we could get. In the end we got our normal army and navy, and when the times comes he hire from one of the big three, or from some of the smaller ones."

Toshiaki felt like he had a revelation, he didn't know if it was from the alcohol or his own mind but at this point it didn't matter. "So it means that if we could establish our own hidden village, we could give everyone bloody noses!"

"Hmmm" Kanko slammed his mug down after taking another sip from it "why are we still talking about them damn shinobi?"

"Uh" Yoshitoshi looked up from his drink "what were we talking about?"

"I asked what's wrong with the new church."

Taroemon shook his head. "Plenty is wrong with em."

"It's a cult." Kanko took another quick sip of his drink.

"They talk about repenting for your sins, about working together and…"

Kanko raised his voice. "What sins do I have?" his eyes narrowed. "Are you accusing me of something?"

"No" Toshiaki shook his head with fervor "I …. Just, you know…."

"Calm down, Kanko" Yoshitoshi placed a hand on the man's shoulder and smiled at him. "Looks like you had one to many today."

Kanko he nodded. "Yeah, maybe I have, reckon its best time to head on back. Good night, be seeing you lot later then."

When he stepped outside the tavern Kanko took a deep breath of clean air, nighttime was fast approaching, he began making his way down street, slowly he entered a side passage, he fumbled for a moment before finding the key in his pants pocket and entering the building.

He only took a few steps inside before he saw a person coming out of the shadows, even with the robes one could still make out the strong arms under them.

He nodded to the man in greeting who returned the gesture. "I believe we can save, Toshiaki Muraoka, sadly Yoshitoshi Kase and Taroemon Soga are lost to us, brother Hiroki."

The man let out a sigh and shook his head. "Only for the moment, a shame that they cannot see the light, yet we can still pray for them, and hope that they shall reconsider their ways."

"Aye, brother." He had seen the light and would ensure others would as well.

* * *

><p>Naruto was laughing as hard he could, honestly it wasn't his fault his teachers had such poor skills. He wiped the tears from his eyes looking at the upside down Mizuki, the man's right foot was still caught by the wire he had used for the trap, the man was trying his hardest to get free. A similar scene was occurring with the other teacher, Umino Iruka; the difference was that both the man's feet were caught in the wire. It had been a more difficult task to prepare the traps, hooking the ninja wire to the walls and making sure it could handle their weight had been fun tasks for him<em>. Maybe I can still find some fun in pranks after all.<em>

Chouji leaned near to him from his right side. "Did you really have to do that?"

He looked surprised while answering. "You think I did that?"

Yakumo looked amused and leaned closer to him from his left side. "You didn't?"

He shrugged. "Who knows?"

Yakumo shook her head but couldn't keep the smile of her face. "Disruption of the class aside, it does point out some glaring problems with out teacher's skills."

He smiled nodding to the girl. "I know, right Yaku-chan?"

Chouji looked confused at the two. "Huh?"

"I mean, those two" she motioned to the two trapped men "are supposed to chunin and yet here they are falling for such easy traps."

"Oy!" he looked indignant at her "I'm sure whoever made those; I'm not saying it was me or anything, would be offended by them being called easy."

She gave him a deadpan expression as a response. "Is simple a better word?"

He nodded. "A tad better, besides as our dear sensei just showed you should never underestimate even a simple looking trap."

"Yeah, that's true;" Chouji nodded his head "I remember someone from my clan was talking about losing his teammate to some elaborate trap, he studied up on the matter really hard after that. My dad has him teaching the younger generation about traps nowadays."

Yakumo looked back at the two trapped men. "Do you think our dear senseis will cover traps this year?"

"After this display?" Chouji shrugged. "Possibly."

"Not my fault they ignored this stuff, it's a rather, um what's the word… not looked at? Not studied?"

"Overlooked?" Yakumo supplied.

"Yeah that's it!" He nodded enthusiastically. "It's an overlooked art, heck the good thing about it is that even non clan shinobi can get good at it."

Yakumo nodded. "True, it does take time to set things up though, time a shinobi will not always have."

"Maybe, a good trap user could scrounge something up in no time flat, and heck any delaying action can help right?"

"I'll admit as much." She replied.

"Hey" Chouji's voice drew their attention "I think Mizuki sensei is about to get out of it."

"Heh, I win a snack!" he smiled.

"What?"

Yakumo sighed seeing Chouji's confused expression. "I bet with Naruto that if our teachers got caught in a trap of sorts, Umino-san would be the first to get out of it" she sent a quick glare at said man. "I lost the bet."

"Heh, I didn't think much of any of them, so I just went with the other guy."

While three talked amongst themselves aware that other children could be listening in on their conversation, they didn't know just how attentively a small purple haired girl was listening to them. She was fascinated with the so called simple trap used to incapacitate her teachers, she felt hope blossom inside her heart when she heard how even civilian children could become great shinobi by mastering the art of trap making.

_If this is something simple then what else can be done with it?_

* * *

><p>"A medic confirmed it as well, you have been giving your students steroids, Hirai how do you explain your actions."<p>

The atmosphere in the headmaster's office was thick with tension, after sending both injured students to the infirmary Katsue had been left in charge of the class while the two men retreated to the headmaster's office.

Hirai felt like squirming under his old teacher's gaze, he felt like he should apologies for his actions, never the less the held onto his belief. "We're ninjas, we're supposed to cheat, nothing's below us, we do what we have to win and that's that."

The headmaster raised an eyebrow in response. "I see, it is fascinating that even with your methods the children still lost, your prized student lost as well."

"I…." he shook his head "wasn't expecting that from him, I was sure he would win, I thought that the only person he would lose would be against was the Sanada girl."

"And yet he did not lose against her, he lost against someone else, a person who is not viewed as a prodigy or ace student."

"No, he didn't." He let out a resigned breath.

"Do you see what you did wrong?"

"The only think I did wrong is that I got caught. I do no regret giving them the drugs; it helped the children progress in leaps and bounds! It could help them stay alive out on the field! Every advantage helps!"

The headmaster pulled a file from a desk drawer and placed it in front of his subordinate. "In this file is a report about the use of steroids on children so young, during the second shinobi war to help rush out more capable troops a small study was conducted. Yes" he nodded towards the man "steroids were given to the children to better prepare them as you think, the results in the short term were agreeable with your current train of thought." He continued when he was the beginning of a smile on the man's face. "In the long term it destroyed the people involved in the study, a number of health problems plagued those involved. If you had studied more on the matter this wouldn't have happened, if you had come to me with the idea we could have discussed it."

"Sensei I…you helped us when…"

"Silence boy!" He slapped a hand on his desk. "I helped the others and you when he came to me with the drug money you and the others stole during that mission. I killed the man when he came to me seeking advice because he wanted confess everything to the authorities. I did it because I knew it would do more harm then good if he came forward, careers would have been ruined and Konoha's image tarnished. I won't help you here, you've gone against what I stand for, what this place is supposed to mean." He stopped and took a breath before leveling a hard gaze at the man in front of him. "You will no longer be a teacher at the academy; I hope your skills aren't rusty because you will be joining Anbu."

"What?"

"Yes, I keep in touch with other students of mine, even those from your old group, they will help you in joining Anbu and it is there that you will seek penance for what you have done."

Hirai nodded his again, he knew there wasn't anything else to say, he would at least get out with life. "Very well sensei."

"Do you think it was the prodigies that held the line at the Blood Gulch? Do you think they were there when Iwa was raining down death on our heads? No boy, we" he motioned his hand to the pictures behind him "simple shinobi held the bloody line; we kept the enemy at bay not your prodigies. I didn't want you to try and make them prodigies I wanted you to make them good shinobi."

* * *

><p>"What is this? Why would people even make a hole there?" Naruto rubbed his chin, looking at the object in front of him, a large grey stone with a small hole in it near the trunk of a tree. The three friends had a met up in a forested area in Konoha to train, during the break from their training Naruto had stumbled upon the stone while wondering around the place.<p>

"I don't know" Yakumo shrugged her shoulders looking at the rock with a raised eyebrow "there must have been a reason for it."

Chouji coughed to get their attention. "I think it's a sacred stone."

Naruto blinked looking at Chouji; carefully he stuck a finger in his right ear and wiggled it then removed the finger, he blinked owlishly. "Can you repeat that?"

Yakumo looked wide eyed at Chouji; she had heard very few things about such things, in her mind the former rock might be an old shrine.

"Yeah" Chouji nodded "I think it's a sacred stone."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "A sacred stone, really a stone is somehow sacred?"

Chouji shrugged. "I saw a few on a trip with my dad, he didn't say a lot about them, just that they had been there for a long time."

"Huh" he rubbed his chin "well I'm bored enough, you guys want to check the library about these stones?"

Yakumo nodded. "Well, our training is almost done, the rest we can do later, we could investigate this matter while taking a break to recover our strengh."

Chouji opened another bag of chips. "If you guys want, I agree."

The trip to the library had been slow and uneventful, while Naruto had a faster pace he had to slow down to match his companions slower speed, with their recent training his friends stamina had taken a hit and their pace had suffered because of it.

He wasn't sure whatever it was time he had spent at the library before or if time had healed the wounds; however the librarian, Hoshi Yoshimura, hadn't seemed bothered by his presence this time around.

He cast a quick look behind him. _Maybe it's just because Chouji and Yakumo are here as well. _

The conversation regarding the books had gone smoothly enough.

"Ah yes" the woman smiled "we have some books on those things."

_She actually knows about these things?_ He kept the surprise in his voice. "You know about them?"

The woman nodded and smiled. "It's from a time long ago, no written records are left from that time, the stone are from that particular era, back then they were considered sacred and people came to sacrifice silver, blood, red ribbons and coins to them, asking for welfare and prosperity." She scratched her chin thinking on the matter. "It's theorized that the little holes in them; were probably used to place the sacrifice in. The meaning and function of the holes is however still disputed; according to some treaties they may have had a calendar function."

The smile came to his face naturally as did the words. "That's cool."

Chouji stopped in between chips. "Yeah, I never knew they had that kind of history."

Yakumo nodded. "Interesting."

The librarian looked pleased with their responses judging by the smile that appeared on her face.

_A lost era huh? I wonder what Yukimura and Sayaka know about that time. _"Is there anything else about them?"

The woman's brows furrowed and her face took a downcast expression, she shook her head. "Other then a few treaties that have parts dedicated to them, no, they are tied to the treaties about travelling forests."

_Travelling? Now this I have to hear about. _He used his best curious expression and fixed his gaze on the woman's eyes, he noticed the interests in his friend's eye as well. "What are those?"

Hoshi cleared her throat and started in a lecture tone raising a slim finger. "The old stories tell that when people are mean, greedy and cruel in some place, the forests will leave that place."

_What the?_ "Really?" he asked sheepishly, Yakumo looked unconvinced while Chouji seemed to accept her words as the truth.

"Yes" she nodded her head seeming pleased with gaining their attention "the Land of Fire reportedly has such forests; a few researchers stated that the forests around Konoha are travelling forests as well."

Yakumo thankfully stated what he wanted to ask. "I heard that the first Hokage was rumored to have created them."

The woman coughed, embarrassed. "Well, that's a more popular version."

_Yes, as it makes the first Hokage sound stronger, can't say that I'm surprised by this, it helps to make his legend far lager. _"Is the Land of Fire the only place with such forests?"

"No" she shook her head "some old stories tell how the Land of Stone was abandoned by its forests, the Land of Forests as well, the name is a give away, stories had it that the Land of Forests is the place where many travelling forests settled in. It's also why the Land of Stones has an enmity with the Land of Forests; their own stories tell how the people from the Land of Forests stole their forests with magic, out of jealousy because of their beauty, after destroying their own forests."

_That's one way to explain old enmities_. "Do you have a lot of books about this kind of stuff?"

"The library does have a few books, though some are restricted given you age, and you won't be able to take the rest home with you."

"No problem; we can use the study halls here, reading about this stuff sound cool." he looked back to his two friends. "Right guys?"

Yakumo nodded. "It has a small interest, and we can use our break for it."

"Sure why not, it sounds neat."

He turned back to the woman. "There you go mam."

"Alright then, why don't you three take a seat while I look some of the books up."

* * *

><p>"Heh, we bagged another one pal!" Taido slapped his friend on the back smiling.<p>

"They will join us." Eiji's tone made it clear that is wasn't a question.

"Yep" Taido nodded while smiling "with that we have another strong point in the country."

Eiji cast a quick look the map near him making more calculations. "An, important one, with it's vicinity to the Land of Sea."

"I also heard an interesting scoop."

"Oh?" He returned his gaze back to his friend.

"Its about the Ohara family, see, they're still a tad upset about the loss of land they suffered a couple of years back, with a few promises and some land after you get the title, they could possible join us as well."

"Hmm…" he scratched his chin thinking about the matter "I haven't heard much about them in the capital."

"Yeah, there's a reason for it, see, a couple years ago the head of the family died of a stroke, now the thing is that he didn't have any children, however he did have other family, a brother, two sisters, and three cousins. Usually the main title and land would have gone to the older sister or if you made a large enough dispute about it, maybe the younger brother. Once it was her's the new lord could have divided the lands amongst the family or kept it for herself, that doesn't matter that much."

He raised an eyebrow trying to see the invisible strings in the story. "Why bring it up then?"

"Shush, now, this is the interesting part, one of the neighboring lords really wanted a chunk of that land, and he was good friends with the wife of the daimyo. So while the old man's family was talking about who gets the pie and how to carve it up, the neighbor swooped in grabbed the pie and showed everyone the middle finger while doing it. The wife convinced her husband to put some pressure on the Ohara family to see things their way, now that was bad enough, but the excuse used was that the guy had purer blood in his veins, claiming that he was more related to the old lord's bloodline then the rest of the family. Heh, complete bullshit, however with the daimyo backing him, he got his way and gained a good chunk of land. The families been wanting revenge on the guy ever since, they've been in a state of cold war for the past years."

"Is that why I haven't heard that much about the two families?"

"Yep, they keep each other in check for the most part, I have to give the guy credit for what he pulled off, and how he's been maintaining it every since, keeping the family in check couldn't have been easy."

"Hmm, why should I side with this person? The man doesn't sound bad; he pulled himself up by his own boot strings, reached a position that was perhaps beyond his believed status." He narrowed his eyes. "What else is there about him?"

"I knew you'd say that, the guy is actually a swindler, it's how he got his position in the first place. He's a bag filled with hot air, an incredibly expensive and ornate bag. Worse is, he's hungry, really hungry, so much that if you trust him and give him some power, he'll try and gobble as much land as he can. He will slash your throat if he thinks he gain something, on the political side, he doesn't have all that much power or a strong base. The reasons no one's tried to make a move on him and that he still has the land is because the daimyo wants to honor the promise that he made to his dead wife, which involves letting the man keep the land. Once the daimyo dies though…"

"I see, very well then, I will take this into consideration and analyze how this can fit into the plan."

"Great then!" He moved towards his bag and pulled out a bottle of liquor, he cast another glance around the room. "I got ask no Azuka?"

"No" he recovered two glasses from a shelf "she is with our friends."

"The new ones?"

"Yes." Eiji nodded.

Carefully he poured making sure not to waste any of precious liquid. "How are things coming along with them?"

"As can be expected, there haven't been any road bumps."

"So all going according to plan?"

"Yes."

"Great, looking forward to seeing them in action, huh." Taido put a hand over his mouth as he started laughing.

"Why are laughing?"

"Just picture it, what will they have on their head bands? The symbol of a cup of hot tea?"

Eiji slapped himself. "You're an idiot."

"Ah see, you have to laugh from time to time man. Besides I am right, aren't I?"

"Uh," he couldn't stop the smile forming on his face "yes. How would that even look?"

* * *

><p>The librarian took her time with bringing them the books, the surprise that she brought a large stack, had in Naruto's mind made up for the latter waiting, the three decide to each go through a pile and read what caught their eye.<p>

"So what did you guys read about?"

Yakumo went first. "I read about a place called the Grotto of Dreams, stories told of a cave deep in the ground where once the goddess Lliira, the Lady of Joy, slept for a time, and dreamt. It was written that the stones of the grotto still recalled the power of Lliira's dreams, and that anyone who found the cave and entered would know the joy of his or her greatest dream."

"Her dream or yours?" _What do gods dream I wonder? _

She didn't think much about the question. "You would experience yours; just imagine it, your greatest dream."

_Ah, your clan returned._

Chouji nodded. "That sounds great."

_Great for some perhaps._ "Did the books say where it was located?"

Yakumo shook her head sadly. "No, it was lost; some mountains were mentioned however no one knows exactly which mountains these are supposed to be. A few scholars think that the mountains in the Land of Earth may actually be the ones referenced. Others believed it was even farther away near the Land of Iron."

Seeing his friend's expression Chouji started talking. "I read about a place called Kurys that was a dream land, a meadow belonging to the dead, which could be visited by some people in their sleep. Visitors were said that they could bring back miraculous seeds of luck and good fortune, sometimes pursued by the dead, inexperienced souls could end bringing back fever and sickness instead"

Yakumo nodded. "That sounds like an interesting place."

"Yeah, a land of dreams sounds cool." _Did Yukimura eat the place?_

He cleared his throat before starting his part. "I read about a few places, the first was the city of Tel-Valah, which was guarded by twin headlands of crystals that rise from the sea and meet in a resplendent arch. The books stated that in the Land of Tel-Valah there was neither time nor space, neither suffering nor death. The land was filled with green groves and pastures, each with bright and fragrant flowers, blue and musical streams, clear and cool fountains, and stately and gorgeous the temples, castles, and cities of Tel-Valah. Stories told that there was no bound to land, for beyond each vista of beauty rose another more beautiful. Over the countryside and amidst the splendor of cities the happy fold moved at will, of whom were gifted with unmarred grace and unalloyed happiness." Seeing their entrapped expressions he continued.

"The City of a Thousand Wonders, The Magask, wherein was said that resided all those mysteries that mankind has striven in vain to fathom. The spires of its temples reached into the sky, so that no man might behold their peaks; far back beyond the horizon stretched the grim, gray walls, over which one might spy only a few roofs, weird and ominous, yet adorned with rich friezes and alluring sculptures. People would yearn to enter the city and behold its great wonders. However it was a trap, a warning was left for the people who wished to go there. Into Magask, the City of a Thousand Wonders, many have passed but none returned. Therein walk only daemons and mad things that are no longer men, and the streets are white with the unburied bones of those who have looked upon the god, that reigns over the city."

Chouji looked horrified at him. "That sounds horrible."

Yakumo nodded before her eyes narrowed looking at him. "It does, however I didn't know you knew such big words."

He smiled and showed her his tongue. "They where in the book."

Yakumo nodded again looking at her friend, the wheels in her head turning. "I suppose they where."

* * *

><p>"Stop, I've noticed recently that you've deviated from the clan style."<p>

"Yes." Yakumo nodded her head looking at her uncle, the man looked as stern as he always did, his posture was straight and his eyes seemed to judge her every move.

"This change is" he seemed to weigh his option before continuing "…acceptable, my question, is about the nature of these changes, where they born from you or" his eye's narrowed at her "someone else?"

_So, he's finally decided to ask about the issue, I've expecting this for a while, lets see what else I can learn from his reactions._ "I've learned it from someone else."

"Who's been teaching you?" his entire posture became sterner "What have they asked for in return?"

Yakumo shook her head. "He hasn't asked for anything, the person whose been teaching me is my friend, Naruto." The reaction had been what she expected and more, far too much for her to understand all of it. There was anger, rage, and something else in his eyes, she realized it was fear, she couldn't her finger on why it was exactly, but she would find out soon enough. An instant passed and she her uncle's hand twitch, she could almost feel it smacking against her face, air flooded her lungs as she prepared for the blow.

"Has he now?"

The breath escaped her, her uncle had restrained himself as she expected, he was one to rarely lose his temper in such a way. "Yes." She nodded again, she couldn't quit pin his tone.

"And how does he know such things, has been someone been teaching him in secret?"

"Not from what he's told me."

"Then how?" The man's eyes narrowed again.

"He told me how he's been at the academy for a few years now, time in which he's had to learn to survive there, he was a smaller child then the rest of his peers so he found a way to if not fight then survive against them, given his nature." a spark of something in his eyes. "I'm not surprised."

"Nature?" The man's asked.

"Yes" she nodded her head. "I believe there's something about his family, they did something that has left a mark on him and it's why everyone treats him so differently."

"You've thought about the matter haven't you; tell me to what conclusions you have reached?"

"The way people look at him, the teachers, civilians and even some of the shinobi, it isn't natural, there's something else causing it. I thought that perhaps it was because of his family, however the Uzumaki clan were great allies of Konoha, one of the greatest regrets of the village is Uzu's fall during the second war, the Hokage is said to have taken to the field when word reached of the attack on Uzu. It can't possibly be that, they can't hate him for being one; maybe the people would feel guilt and see him as a constant reminder of their loss."

Another spark of something in the man's eyes, she was on the right track. "The problem with that is that it happened a long time ago, most of the people who lived in that period are either old or dead, so it can't be that. I think its something more recent" another spark, so she getting warmer, "it has to be something tied to his parents, perhaps they were shinobi that were held in high esteem, mostly likely they would gained their fame during the third great shinobi war. One of if not both of the parents must have been well known in the village when they were alive, but something happened to sour things, they either turned traitor or failed an important mission."

"It's why now the people look at him in such a way, they are reminded of what could have been, I've seen him fight, I thing he has more stamina then our teachers, and he's a lot more skilled when it comes to taijutsu. I believe that a parent of his was a high ranking shinobi, maybe even S class that became a hero during the war, and that after their fall the Hokage decided to give him a new family name to make sure that he could have a semblance of a normal life, one without the burdens of his parent's actions."

"So this is your conclusion? Very interesting my dear."

She pushed the matter. "It's the truth isn't it?"

The man shook his head disappointed. "You would not ask if you knew it to be certain."

"I want to confirm it."

"What has he told you about the issue?"

"He doesn't know and doesn't think too much on matter."

"But he is aware of it?"

"Yes, though he looks to ignore it for the most part."

"I see."

"Aren't I correct?"

"You've done well in your investigation my dear, truly well thought out, as expected of you."

She smiled even fearing what came next.

"You are wrong about the conclusion you've reached however."

"What? But, he has skill in taijutsu and stamina; those must have been inherited from a parent!"

"Keep your emotions in check Yakumo! Think clearly on the matter."

"I've seen how even the librarian looked at him when we visited the place. Was one of his parents a potential Hokage candidate?"

"Now you are just over reaching, I commend you for your work thus far, wrong as it may be, I will not stop you if you wish to further investigate the matter you've come quite far on your own, however it must be done in secret, more so then until now. There is a secret behind the treat of the boy, one that may cost us everything if not handled properly, do you understand?"

"Yes, uncle."

"No, you don't, not yet, but you will in time. Now as to his training, you are to come to me with whatever he teaches you from now, I will decide whether you continue to study those lessons."

_He must want to judge them first and then see how to best implement them in my training, I am the future of the clan and the teachings I pass down will be vital to the restoration of the clan, of course he'd want only the best._ "Yes, uncle."

"As I knew you would, now let us will finish our lesson."

* * *

><p><strong>-<strong>the description of Tel-Valah is from a H.P. Lovecraft story, its Sona-Nyl

-the description of the city is The Thalarion

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	18. Chapter 17 : Year IV part I

**I do not own Naruto.**

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – normal thoughts  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><em><strong>Listen<strong>_** – biju, higher being thoughts**

**Chapter 17 : Year IV part I**

Both Naruto and Tenten sat on old wooden chairs looking up towards the night sky from the window in their apartment.

"So, ready for the New Year sister?" Naruto asked passing his sister a cup of warm tea.

Tenten shrugged taking the cup. "Sure, why not."

Naruto rolled his eyes at her attitude commenting in a droll voice. "A bit more enthusiasm can't hurt now can it?"

Tenten rolled her eyes in turn looking at him and taking a sip of tea. "It's nothing special, well." She smirked. "Some of us have gotten quite far in the academy, unlike others… "

Naruto let a growl escape his throat and prepared reply stopping when he saw his sister getting up from her chair and brining him a cup of water.

"Here, brother."

"Huh?" He looked at the cup puzzled by her action.

Tenten smiled and started laughing full heartedly. "It's water for that burn!"

Naruto grit his teeth before placing the cup down on the floor. "You know I could have been in the fourth year by now right?"

Tenten shook her head still smiling. "Could have, should have, bottom line is you're not, circumstances be damned."

Naruto pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine, I'll kick your ass for this during sparing."

She grinned at him. "Bring it fluffy!"

"My hair is not fluffy!"

"It is with the shampoo I got you!"

"Why do you think I don't use it?!"

They both glared at each other before bursting into fits of laughter.

Naruto wiped a few tears from his eyes. "Well at least it's shaping up to be an interesting year."

"Yeah" she nodded "we finally have more money now!"

"Yep" he nodded smirking "I guess those books came in handy after all, though it's kind of bad seeing as how I can't go to meet any of my fans."

She rolled her eyes. "I never said they wouldn't come in handy, besides they aren't that many die hard fans now are there?"

He shrugged. "They're a nice little group, besides I feel like I'm slapping them in the face with my refusals for any kind of meeting besides the one with the publisher."

"I'm sure that you'll eventually be able to dazzle them brother, the image of a reclusive author isn't that bad now is it?"

"No, I guess not, for now at least."

"Uh, you do know that those could ask some uncomfortable questions."

"I could handle them."

She raised an eyebrow looking at him. "If they ask about the inspiration for the books, some elements in particular…"

He looked to the side trying to avoid her gaze. "Well, ok, that could be a problem, but I can think on my feet quickly enough so…"

"Right, best to stay in the shadows for now at least."

"Fine."

"Cheer up; I'm sure something will happen to help keep your mind of the matter."

"You think so?" He asked looking back towards her.

"Why not?" She shrugged. "Last year was pretty eventful."

"Was it, I didn't notice?"

Tenten sighed heavely. "Uh…"

He smirked. "Not all of us can have drug peddling teachers after all."

"They weren't those kinds of drugs." She rolled her eyes again; she knew how the discussion would proceed.

"Right the good kind of drugs, except not really."

"It was a messed up situation, and I've already explained the details to you."

"Yeah, yeah, heh," he snickered "I still remember when Katsue approached me and tried to oh so subtly warn me about one of my teachers offering me drugs."

She shook her head. "Shame I couldn't be there, she did talk to me about the matter, and told how to break it down for you."

"She didn't do a bad job of it; her trying to bring in hand puppets was peculiar." He scratched his chin thinking about the memory.

Tenten blinked several times trying to imagine the scene unfolding. "Really wished I had been there."

"It was interesting I'll give you that, curious as to how many new classmates you'll this year with everything that's happened."

"Hmm, I figured that the children involved with Hirai will either be moved to another class or to a special one, I doubt that they would be dropped from the program."

"Who knows what damage their bodies sustained from the drugs?"

"True, either way they'll be a small shuffle with the classes, I figured that they'll transfer some of the better students from the other classes over to mine."

Naruto smirked. "Best of best huh?"

"Damn right." She nodded her head.

"I'm still surprised that I haven't heard whispers around the academy about the matter."

"It's not something anyone would want to talk about, or let it get out; I think the headmaster covered everything up. A small talk with the parents about what had happened and what the consequences for their children could be if things got revealed and well they would probably get the hind and keep their mouths shut."

"Hmm, true, a shame we couldn't see how the parents reacted, who would understand the issue, the civilians or the shinobi parents?"

"Uh, well, those students weren't actually know for their parents so to speak, in fact, I think only to actually had parents, Yatsuhiro I think had an uncle, the rest were orphans."

"Ah, even better, someone who doesn't have anyone else to stick up for them and have to rely on the higher ups for it."

She places one hand over heart before lowering her head. "Yeah, glory to Konoha."

Naruto replicates her gesture. "Glory to Konoha."

"Uh, maybe it'll be an eventful year."

"I doubt it."

"You know you could be a bit more positive."

"I'm just being realistic."

"No, you're being a pessimist."

He shrugs. "Same thing really."

"Uh, I'm going to round house kick you if don't change the attitude."

"Of, fine, I sure its going to be a wonderful year, filled with new friends, wonderful events and exciting things."

"Really?"

"No." He quickly dodges a round house kick aimed for his head.

"Geeze, try being a bit more positive."

"I am positive sister; it's going to be a boring year period."

"You never know, things could surprise you."

"Bah, what could possible happen?"

* * *

><p>Katsue took another sip of her drink before setting the glass down on the table; she licked her lips enjoying the sweet flavor, luck had favored her when she found a few bottle of apple juice given the season.<p>

_Hmm, I should go and check the place more often, I remember the shop only opened up recently, even if I forget the location of it, all I need to do is ask about the rather unique shop keeper, honestly I've met people with blue, purple and even orange hair but the man's bright pink hair was something else. _

She glanced down at her desk looking over the recent notes she had been painstakingly making. Katsue stretched her arms to side and then behind herself enjoying the feeling from her muscles. She smiled slightly then in a swift moment she used her hand and caught the backside of the chair and raised her self into the air holding onto the chair before using her hands to launch herself into the air where after a quick back flip she landed on the ceiling of her apartment feet first and remained there. _Heh, I still got it._

Looking down at her notes she felt a head ache coming up on her, she sighed and started walking around the ceiling. _There's so much though that I have to put into this now, so much planning for the future, I almost miss the old days where I would only put in the required amount of work and be done with it. Still this is for the best, no regrets on my part anymore._

_Tsk, the last academy year couldn't be over to soon for my taste, after the fiasco with Hirai, I ended up being the only main teachers the class had, the substitutes helped in their own way, but all the important decision still fell into my lap. Not to mention that parts that Hirai was supposed to cover became my responsibility as well, coming up with that material after what he became unavailable was such a joy. _

_Tsk, I still don't know how the headmaster managed to keep everything under wraps; if someone alerted the Hokage about it I can't see any sign of such a thing. I guess it was his luck that most of the students involved were orphans and were for the most part on their own, the man can be intimating when he wants to be. And the students were so to speak caught with a bag filled with shit; they couldn't do much about it. In theory they could have tried going to the Hokage with the matter, the chances of them getting to see him are low though. _

_Maybe if they made a scene there and ranted about the situation they could have gotten in to see the man, a quick medical scan would have proven part of their story. Provided that said student managed to reach the Hokage's office, and that no one knocked the child out cold when he started to make a scene and that the Hokage was in his office. _

_Heh, far to many things that depended on something else, of course the headmaster could have told them that the Hokage has been informed of the situation and has left the matter up to his judgment, anybody talking about the incident would find themselves neck deep in a dark hole never to see the light of day again who's dream would be a knife across the neck to give them a sweet release from their confinement._

She shook her head seeing where her thoughts were going. _Maybe it's all the blood going to my head._ With a quick move she jumped back down to the floor, she stretched one more time before taking a seat in from of her desk again. Her hand reached out for a parchment that she had worked on before her break, she looked over it with an appraising eye before nodding to herself and setting it back down.

After the incident with her fellow teacher she had decided to write up the full academic program for the class and to gather the required materials for it. Even if she believed that such a situation wouldn't occur again, this time she wanted to be sure she had her base covered, when Hirai was removed from the academy and her class she had to scramble to write up and research the other half of the curriculum for the class. Given the countless nights she had lost because of the matter she had decided to make a change and hoped to prevent finding herself in a similar situation.

She sparred a glance out the window, the problem with working on completing the class curriculum had been that she hadn't had a great deal of free time on her hands, the result had been that she couldn't spend all that much time with her little student. _Ugh, and now with working on this, I'm just as strapped for time. Well at least I know you're safe Naruto_. She smiled. _And you managed to pass the year in good standing. Having his sister by his side helped more that I thought, and making friends helped him learn to trust people._

Explaining how drugs are a bad thing and how he should tell her if see saw anything similar occurring in his class had not been an easy conversation, she couldn't tell him outright what she meant given his young age, so she danced around and with the subject until she was satisfied with the result.

_Perhaps the hand puppets were a bit too much, I can't say that I found it odd, when Watanabe_-_sensei did it for me back at the academy; then again I was far younger then. _

_Things will definitely get better for him from now on, they have to_. Her heart fluttered for a moment thing about what she would have to teach them soon. _How long before I have to teach those two about killing? How long before I have to break that smile of his a second time? Maybe I can delay the matter another year of two, let them keep their innocence for a while longer. _She let out a tired breath before returning to her work, she shelved the thought for another time, as she had done in the past before and for that she hated herself a bit more.

* * *

><p>The sun was rising overlooking the ice filled landscape; two figures each stood a top an ice.<p>

"Another wonderful in paradise." Sayaka smiled looking over the scene.

Yukimura grinned looking at the sun rise and feeling wind biting into his flesh. "I think it looks lovely."

"Yes, breath taking." Sayaka waved her right hand sending waves of ice water towards Yukimura.

He broke the waves charging towards her, for a moment he is puzzled by the more waves appearing, it's all the time she needs as she rushes through the water and catches him in the jaw with her fist sending him crashing into the ground where he is buried under the snow and ice.

A moment later he punches his way out rubbing his jaw, he spits blood to the side before grinning at her. "Good punch."

She shrugs casually. "You left yourself open back then; we can't have that now, can we?"

"Of course, this round goes to you."

Sayaka smiled confidently. "Naturally, not shall we change the setting for our discussion?."

"I thought you would like it here."

"I do, after the beating I thought you could do with a change of scenery."

"Always thinking about what's good for me."

She smiled warmly at him. "Always."

A few steps later the two were in the study of the house; Sayaka grabbed her tea cup with three fingers keeping her small finger and ring finger closed. "This year shall be an interesting one."

"True, we're going to have to step up the children's training;" he hesitated for a moment before continuing "a few of our more bloody memories are in order."

"Indeed, it would have happened eventually, their profession" she spat the word out, "allows for no respite from such things. At least we still have time before we tackle the matter, the summer will be appropriate, they will have the time needed to deal with the experience and be away from the constant attention at the academy."

"True."

"There is the matter of the event related to this year."

"Yes, the massacre."

She raised an eyebrow looking at him. "Not too angry about it from what I can see."

"It's a complicated matter; we can discuss more when the children get here."

"To tell them of such a thing" she shook her head "a cruel world."

"Yes, a very cruel world." He took a sip of his tea allowing for a moment of silence. "I'm curious to see if we can add another person to our little group."

"Ah, that girl, you believe she will join us soon?"

"Perhaps, her uncle doesn't have a lot of time left, with his death an opportunity will arise."

Sayaka rolled her eyes. "Ever the sentimental one."

Yukimura shrugged. "Whether the proposal is made or not an opportunity will still exist, I am not advocating that we use this opportunity simply to get her on our side, she is his friend and he will console her no matter the case."

"I remember a time when you would have never thought of such a thing, your first thought would have been of simply aiding a friend."

"Time's change." He sighs not meeting Sayaka's gaze. "Being around so many people who only saw opportunities to strike for so long, it changed me as well, to many lives lived in a court. The schemes and plots of the powers that be were never my strong point."

"It's a good thing I'm here then isn't it?" Sayaka placed her tea cup on the table near her and made her way to Yukimura where she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes." He nodded and smiled at her. "It frightens me sometimes, even being incomplete like I am now, as the Kyuubi I should have retained most of my old personality. I have to ask myself was I always like this? "

"No, don't think such foolish thoughts; enough of your true personality has survived." Her hand drifted to his chest near his heart. "Even if some things are missing, that's what I'm here for; we will recover all of them."

He nodded again leaning towards her. "Thank you."

* * *

><p>The day started normally enough for him, still he decided to play a few pranks to lighten things up. He grinned reaching the academy early in the day; he was going to have plans within plans.<p>

He made his first visible move when enough of his fellow students arrived; a few of them were integral to his plan. Quickly he made his way towards the teachers' desk and removed a few items from his pockets and opening the desk drawers, he ignored the few people telling him to stop. After he finished he returned to his desk, Yakumo gave him a curious look, she had seen him preparing pranks, and this one felt wrong to her, it was far to visible for him. She shrugged and decided to wait and see how things would play out.

A few minutes after Iruka entered the classroom, three of the students told him about the prank Naruto set up. Iruka gave Naruto a hard look and disarmed the trap. "Detention for a week Uzumaki."

"Ohhh, fine, it would have been so cool." He gave the three an angry look before returning to his notes.

Three hours later the class had returned from their physical training, the hour was left for them to rest, whether they read anything or simply rested was up to them. Iruka was seated at his desk, marking some papers. The more diligent students had started doing homework or reading up on the future lessons.

Naruto grinned, his eyes lighting up.

Yakumo caught his look and turned her attention to her teacher. _Plans within plans huh? He distracted people with a clear fake trap to hide the real one. _

Naruto placed one hand in a seal and released a small amount of chakra.

Next there was a flash and a bang that startled the students in the class, many jumping up awakening from their slumber. Iruka jumped up and attached himself to the ceiling, kunais in hand, looking around frantically.

A loud laughter filled the room with Naruto rolling on the ground laughing with tears in his eyes, gripping his sides. "Heh I was counting on someone telling you about what I set up, no one noticed how I set up the real thing. Not my fault you didn't check your surrounding better."

"UZUMAKI!" Iruka yelled his face red with rage. "DETENTION FOR THREE WEEKS!"

He smiled up at him. "Just three? You can do better then that sensei!"

"That's it you damn demon, two months detention, and where going to see the principle after class." Iruka realized his mistake he shut his mouth with a force that rattled his teeth.

Naruto just smiled closing his eyes and showing quite a few teeth in his smile. "I can't wait sensei."

_Demon? What was his reaction after saying that, his face shifted through so many emotions._ "Plan within a plan, well done, had it been serious sensei might have been injured."

"No, I tested things before to make sure it wouldn't hurt anyone, just a low powered stuff, we have them in the training supplies here at the academy."

"Well done, either way, I really need to study up on traps."

"I can help."

"Not with you pranking me."

"Oh, but Yaku-chan it's the fun way to learn!"

Yakumo gave him a deadpan stare. "No."

He sighed dejected. "Alright."

The two didn't noticed the widened eyed look a purple haired girl was giving Naruto, her eyes drifting from him to their teacher and then the ceiling.

* * *

><p><em>Well at least they look competent.<em> Tenten looked over her new classmates; they were apparently picked from all of the other classes in her year. Some of the best the rest had to offer, and perhaps something less, she eyed a number of her new classmates, amongst them a boy with bushy brows and long black hair tied in a ponytail.

From what Tai had had heard the boy hadn't been in the top of his old class, and neither had some of the others, that meant that they either had a connection that aided in transferring to the class, something that was possible or the other option that they had a skill good enough that it caught the attention of the teachers and they decided to move them up in the academy.

_Well, I can't wait to see what they can actually do once the things get serious._

* * *

><p>"Ah, good day Umino-san."<p>

Iruka looked up from the ground towards the woman and smiled faintly. "Oh, good day Miwa-san."

She took a seat next to the man on the bench. "I don't mean the pry, however you look quite upset, the saying goes that it helps talking about your problems, not always of course, especially not if it's a personal matter."

He smiled and nodded again. "Thank you, it's actually related to work."

"Oh, having trouble with some students?"

"One in particular, the rest are good children, him though..."

_Let's see if I can get him to open up on matter. _"Yes…."

"He's like a rotten apple spoiling the rest" he shook his head looking towards the ground and missed the look over anger crossing the woman's face "I can't seem to act professional around him, his attitude only makes things worse, it's well, him."

_Damn it! Even if I play right into the Hokage's hands this is for the best, I'll be here to counter his influence so I'll let the relationship grow for now._ "I see" she pretended to mull over the situation "that is quite the predicament. Tell me Umino-san, did you know that I had him as a student the first time he joined the academy?"

"You did?" Iruka looked up at her surprised. "I heard how he had been at the academy since before the other children; I didn't know he had been in your class Miwa-san."

"Yes" she nodded "he was quite different the first year, mistakes were made then of which I am not proud, it is in part my fault that he ended up the way he is now."

"I don't understand." He looked at her puzzled.

She smiled tightly. _Fool you should it's why the Hokage wanted you for this job!_ "It's alright, I can explain, you see my attitude and that of my other colleague was different then yours, we couldn't act truly professional around him. I still remember the wide smile he had on his face when the academy year began." She shook her head. "Sadly things changed drastically during the first year, he didn't make any friends nor could he, my colleague was more liberal in expressing his views about the boy, and I myself didn't make things better."

Katsue let her words sink in b before continuing. "I remember now how he slowly lost that wide smile, it culminated in him dropping out before the year even ended, a classmate tried to blame him for his thefts, unfortunately everyone in classroom believed the accusation. It was unfounded, Naruto had been found innocent, however the damage had been done. I still remember before he was accused of the thefts, he actually brought me a present for my birthday." She shook her head and smiled sadly towards Iruka. "I don't know where he found out, I think he overheard a fellow teacher; he said he bought it for his favorite teacher!"

She enjoyed the maelstrom of emotions passing over the man's face; everyone of them would help in advancing her new plan. "Oh don't worry, there wasn't anything wrong with it, looking back I've realized that his pranking started in that first year. You remember what you told me about your childhood Iruka-san, why did you prank people?"

Iruka's eyes widened and his face turned pale, he appeared as if something had finally fallen into place. "Attention."

"Yes" she nodded at him "with the mark he bears people shun him, making the academy no different drove him to find other ways to gain attention, whether good or bad, it doesn't matter as long as someone acknowledges his existence. What you said about the academy, and being a teacher is true Iruka-san, we shouldn't discriminate in such a way. This place is supposed to be different, we're supposed to teach about the Will of Fire here, can you honestly say that you've done that with how you've acted? By doing such things we demean the institution, my greatest regret is not helping his back when he was my student. Hindsight is painful Iruka-san, don't make the same mistake I've made. If you must hate someone, hate the beast, but not the boy, he is innocent in the matter."

"I…..thank you, Miwa-san, you've given me a lot to think about."

She gently placed a hand on the man's shoulder and squeezed. "It's alright, we are comrades" with her free hand she touches her headband, "we're supposed to be able to help each other during difficult times."

"….yes" he bows to the woman before leaving "thank you Miwa-san."

_That went better then expected, I was right talking about the issue does help;_ she smiled again,_ I guess I didn't realize that it also applied to myself as well._

* * *

><p>Naruto chuckled as he ducked behind another wall; he had noticed a change in one of his classmate's behavior, one that greatly affected him.<p>

_Did I lose her? Well that's a shame, of well, better luck next time then. _

The last week the Hyuuga girl had taken to following him around the village in a few selected days. He caught onto the matter from the first day however he couldn't figure out her motives, he still had difficulties talking to her at the academy. In the end sensing no one around her he decided she was doing it out of her own volition and he would have some fun with the matter, if she wanted to spy on him she would have to chase him first.

* * *

><p>The skies were dark and clouded as far as the eyes could see, a darkness seemed to have settled across the land. Cat let out a breath visible in the cold weather, the constant rain made the mission more difficult. The team jumped from tree to tree and branch to branch silently making their way forward, the forest was early silent and she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. No birds were heard, no insects, no animals, it felt as if life had abandoned the land. <em>It's too quiet, what happened here to cause everything to flee?<em>

Her Anbu team had arrived at the Land of Rivers a week prior to deal with the attacks upon its villages and something far darker lurking in the land. With the land's great agricultural importance in helping to feed the neighboring lands, a part of the Land of Fire included, and a few beyond, insuring its stability became a vital issue.

The country encompassed was a region of plains, forests, hills, and endless rivers, the numerous rivers that ran across their expanse were used for trading and the transport of goods. In times of peace fisher folk in skiffs and grain barges poled downstream and merchants on floating ships sailed on the rivers. With so much trade on the rivers, villagers would haul their grain and other goods to it to see it sold and carried elsewhere by merchants.

The land itself was dotted with populations accreted around small farm townships, and a few large cities, every one of them was separated from its neighbors by rivers, or the lucky few by bits of land.

The first township to have been attack had been Tawamoto, the main township in the area; it had a port, grain hoppers and mills. The cultists had taken over the city in the absence of the people, it had been the team's first stop, alongside the others in their group, the cultists were killed without question or quarter. The fight had been quick; it took the team longer to find all of the cultists who had hidden themselves in basements and attics of the houses in the town.

Armed with small spears, bows, axes and rusty swords the cultists were cut down quickly, their own swords and kunai cutting cleanly through the weapons of their adversaries. By noon that day the cultist flag that had been raised above the town had been removed, tossed with the corpses of the fallen in the fire.

Boar, the leader of the her squad, and the other Anbu captains, along with his their squad officers, had met with the chunin in charge of the investigation, Shinji Kawada, who had spent the last three weeks in the land trying to uncover the incidents before the squads were called in.

The situation at first had been a simple, a few people had disappeared, animal and bandit attacks were believed as the most likely cause, when the situation continued and River's own forces failed to uncover anything they had come to Konoha and asked for aid. The initial team sent by Konoha reported, after almost a week, finding unusual tracks in the places where the disappearances occurred, possibly from a summons of sorts or a chakra construct.

With the news of the possibility of such a creature existing, a second team was sent out as well, the reports later received painted an even darker picture. Worse was that the disappearances were becoming more frequent, with an atmosphere of fear becoming palpable across the land, a prophet had reportedly risen and hailed the creature as a god that had come to purge the unworthy and prepare the world for a great change. The team reported had the man was a danger and how that the people across the country seemed to slowly loose their grip on sanity, being seduced into the newly risen cult.

When the second team arrived in the land they discovered that the first team had disappeared, the mater was reported back to Konoha and the team began back tracking their comrade's movements. With the disappearances continuing across the land and worse yet the rise of the cult the team had hurried in attempting to find their lost comrades, the last report sent included a description of a hidden abandoned laboratory the team had discovered.

A week later, Konoha, with no news incoming had send another final team, it was the person put in charge of the team that had called in the proverbial hammer down upon the land. No less then four Anbu squads had arrived alongside three detachments consisting of jounin and chunin. The chunin in charge of the investigation reported to mounting loss of life and the possibility of the recent discovered laboratory belonging to the traitorous sannin Orochimaru.

* * *

><p>In the atrium of the guildhall, the phalanx of Anbus and jounins stood in a semi-circle around the chunin in charge of the investigation, all stood in dutiful silence as he apprised them of the situation.<p>

Cat quickly looked over the faces of the people assembled, they represented some of the best Konoha had to offer, a few would argue that they represented the very best it had to offer. To her right stood, the Anbu captain Dog with his vice captain, Crane, even with the mask she knew the man behind the mask was Hatake Kakashi, the former student of the late Yondaime Hokage. His reputation had soared in the past years, the man had blazed through missions, his presence alone was thought to be more then enough to accomplish the mission.

To her left stood another Anbu captain, Crocodile, the only female captain present, at her side was her own vice captain, Monkey. Cat felt a chill running down her spine looking at the woman; the aura she got felt from the woman was that of cobra waiting to strike. The beady blue eyes were like two chunks of lapis lazuli took everything in. Her thick, curly, shoulder-length hair was as black as the night and was worn in a utilitarian, precise style, she had a slender build.

Past her stood the youngest Anbu captain wearing the Crow mask, his vice captain Squirrel at his side. She had overheard talk about how Itachi Uchiha had been tapped since his promotion to chunin to enter Anbu and had been kept on eye on by the former captain of the squad, Sparrow.

_Good instincts in hindsight, had he felt his own death near or was it just talent that he spotted?_

The last of the group where the three jounin leaders sent with numerous chunin under their direct command. Maito Gai, who was easily recognizable, next to him stood Hidehira Sakata, she judged the man to be in his early thirties, he had a solid built to his feature, brown, wet shaggy hair revealed a chiseled, friendly face with squinting amber eyes, set buried within their sockets. Miyo Matsuzaki, the woman had pale skin, an angular face, hazel eyes and very short black hair, Cat noticed a bronze ring on the woman's left hand.

Compared to the other squads her squad seemed smaller, Crocodile' squad possessed shurikens that had struck and drew blood from the first Tsuchikage, she heard they had a right involving earth before entering battle. Dog's squad fought against Kumo during the first great shinobi war, their own relic was a sword used to cut the second Raikage and the gold and silver brothers. The last was Crow's squad who had fought against the first water masters of Kiri, she could see the special kunai's at the man's sides, the team had a similar ritual to Crocodile's squad only involving the giving of water instead of earth.

Cat knew it wasn't because they lacked skill, her squad was one of the newest ones, the other three squads were amongst the oldest and had their history and relics, they had been tested over time while hers hadn't.

Kawada began by praising their work in liberating Tawamoto. From outside came the crackling noise of the fire as the bodies burned, proof of the squad finishing its cleansing. The bodies of the fallen cultists, some thirty six or more, had been stacked in an outlying granary and torched with flames. The pungent scents of burning filled the air, despite the heavy rain.

"They call themselves the Children of the last Lord." Kawada had said, his lofty voice faltering just slightly as he was forced to pronounce the name. "The cult seems to have appeared in the south of country around a year ago and spread from there, during the time the second team of our comrades disappeared they began to attack the townships in full force."

"Is it restricted to only the smaller population centers?" Dog asked.

"Yes, captain, I believe it is. So far the areas around the larger cities haven't reported anything; likewise the cult has found no ground to hold there." Kawada got to his feet and wandered over to an ornate side table.

Standing to the right of her captain, Cat watched the investigator with curious eyes. Her own promotion to vice captain had come as an unexpected surprise, while she believed her skills were up to par, she thought that other members of her squad would be promoted given their seniority. She had spent the last three years of her life in Anbu with her current squad, she thanked the Anbu members of the Old Guard that helped to train her after the initiation, the Anbu Chicken had gone beyond duty for her.

Shinji Kawada was a dark-haired man in his thirties, with a round pudgy face, short in stature and with a solid build to him, he wore a dark trench coat, his left arm was wrapped in a golden bandage. Kawada lifted an object from the table; it was a figurine, about thirty centimeters high, woven from straw. "A corn-doll." Kawada told them, holding it up for them to see. "A votive object, common to so many rustic and agricultural communities. Both in the land of Rivers and in parts of our own land, they weave them at harvest time, one to represent each of the outlying harvest towns, and they are displayed in the main guildhall during the Time of Celebration."

He lifted another from the table. There was something hideous and twisted about this one, even though it was only a doll woven from straw. "I found this and six more like it, demon dolls, if you will. Each one has been made according to the practices of various harvest townships, but the designs have been perverted to make them symbols of the cult."

Kawada let the thing drop back onto the table top as if he had no wish to touch it any longer.

"And from that, we may infer that at least six of the outlying townships have been polluted by the cult. Though the main uprising here in Tawamoto has been quashed, it is vital that these outlying offshoots also be checked and, if necessary, burned and cleansed. The powers that be have given us a free hand when dealing with the cultists."

_Given how one of our own mistakes may be the cause of this, Konoha may have been more than generous in their offer to aid the country. _

"You can identify the relevant townships from the dolls?" Crocodile asked picking up one of the straw dolls.

"Yes, you must send teams out at once, captains. Send them out to purge these places. In between these townships are smaller settlements that fall under their jurisdiction, they must be checked as well."

Kawada and his aides had identified six positively from the loathsome dolls, but he insisted that all should be checked in turn. A part of Crocodile's squad would stay with him to hold Tawamoto firm and engage the creature should it be encountered, the rest of the squad would sent out with the vice captain to undertake the purge.

In addition of detachment led by Hidehira Sakata would stay in the town to defend it as well, the detachments led by Maito Gai and Miyo Matsuzaki would sweep through the areas between the targets. The other two squads rest were broken down into smaller teams lead by their captains and vice captains.

Her squad would head towards the farthest township of the six and would stay at full strength for most of their journey, their only need to separate into teams would arise when they reached a crossroads each leading through the small settlements before reaching the main township.

She looked around herself another time after the plans were finalized before leaving with her captain to depart for their objective.

Their direction had been north-west; four settlements lay in that direction: Kuwaya, Shodon, Hamada and Kotanuka.

Of these, only the most distant, Kotanuka, had been positively marked by a doll. It took Cat and her squad half a day's hard march across the rain swept land to reach Kuwaya, and the other half to confirm it was free of the cultists. A day's trek brought them to Shodon, which proved to be clean, though the fear and resentment of the townsfolk kept them suspicious and prolonged the search.

A day through fallow uplands followed, the weather remained the same with low storms and hard rain, the mud made travel on foot difficult and the wet branches brought their own issues. They approached Hamada on the fourth day after leaving Tawamoto. By then, reports had drifted in from the other squads. Dog's squad had found cultists in the township of Natachi, far to the south, and had been engaged in a running street battle for a day, with the cultists barricading themselves in the few buildings the place offered.

Crow's squad had uncovered another nest of the cultists in a township called Kindazaki, and had been forced to put it to the torch, the reports stated how there were no survivors of the villagers and the corpses of the villagers had been desecrated by the cult members.

The squad reached the Hamada settlement and found it was dead, a week dead, Cat estimated, the squad moved and fanned through the blood-wet streets, finding nothing but burnt-out sheds, ransacked store houses and slaughtered animals. Nightingale finally found the villagers. Forty people, men, women and children, butchered with corn-scythes, their bodies and body parts piled in a corn silo to rot. The place had crawling with ravens and crows on the silo, the birds giving the silo an eerie feeling even before approaching it.

Boar had transmitted the news to the main command center at Tawamoto, following instructions he proceeded to look for any signs the cultists may have left behind, a shrine or any markings to identify their god.

Besides Kawada, the rest of the investigation team alongside one of the jounin lead detachments that finished their mission were currently running missions to ensure the devices left behind by each squad to ensure radio communications were up and running.

"The cultists were behind the attack, after hearing the details about Kindazaki I report similar discoveries here as well. The signs we found are the blasphemous sigils daubed in blood on the sides of the granary where the cultists piled the bodies. My people have found tracks trampled in the corn and rice fields around the township. I thought at first it might be the signs of the murderers' escape, but the tracks wind and overlap. From the top of the granary barns, you can see they make a pattern. The trampled lines are quite deliberate. They form a vast, symbol in the rice, hundreds of paces across."

"You have done well, captain. From your reports, I am sure that Hamada was some sort of sacrifice. These madmen are making statement out of Hamada and Kindazaki, a declaration if you will. You must hunt them down. From the evidence as it presents to us, I'd hazard Kotanuka is the most likely the place to start."

The squad made ready to move on to Kotanuka, Boar had a few of the squad mates use fire jutsus to burn the corn and rice fields, obliterating the marks. They also burned the dead, Cat caught Deer, Dove and Pelican making prayers over the vast pyre, her captain looked on impassively. The new member Goat looked locked in place as he stared at the pyre, noticing no one approaching the man she made her way to him and whispered a few words of encouragement that seemed to snap him out of his daze and the node to her. She herself had other members offer similar encouragements during the more difficult moments after entering Anbu and felt it her duty to offer the same to another member.

The squad split up into two teams with Boar, taking Bear, Horse and Goat, with Cat taking Deer, Dove, Nightingale and pelican, the two would reform into one squad near Kotanuka.

As her team searched their target, Cat looked over her squad, named Hollow winter squad, formed during the Sandaime's second reign, three years after the Kyuubi incident, during a winter that looked to be one of the fiercest they every experienced. That winter proved to be a gentle one with a small breeze of snow, many called it an extended autumn with no real cold in it, and why the team gained their name. During the small amount of time the squad had been active it hadn't been able to gain the same prestige as the other squads. As her team finished their search she made a sign for them to regroup and prepared to depart the city.

Kotanuka township lay before them, the team made a final check of their gear before they began making their way towards the city through muddy roads towards the cluster of barns, houses and mills.

"Ten minutes and we enter the township." Cat acknowledged and looked around at her squad. One by one, she took in their appearances.

Boar, broad-shouldered standing at one meter and eighty with blue eyes and a short cut black hair. Bear, third tallest of the group with his greasy black hair pulled into a bun was checking his shuriken packs.

Horse, the second tallest of the group, her head was bald with three scars visible on it, she had stormy grey eyes, her left hand resting on her sword while she flexed her right hand. Deer, with her deep-set brown eyes and shoulder brown hair, was checking the radio equipment.

Dove, sharp-faced, black-eyed was cleaning his sword. Nightingale, grey eyes and shoulder length, curly black hair usually neatly braided. Goat, short black hair, dark eyes, oval shaped face, strong well defined jaw line, medium build and height, he had a bandana tied around his left arm. Pelican, who was thick of a barrel, the medic of their squad was checking, his equipment, a small scuff of blond hair could be seen on his head.

* * *

><p>The squad entered the township keeping to the shadows; their first impression of the place was that it looked deserted. Boar gave a crisp signal and Hollow Winter squad fanned out across the township, weapons armed and raised, hunting for movements. Nothing, so very ominously like blood, the rain washed down over them all.<p>

The squad spread down the main street of the township, looking to all sides for any movements, weapons braced ready in their hands.

There was no sound except the crunch of a set of footfalls, the squad looked at the person responsible for the noise, Goat was frozen with his feet above a broken branch, the group shook their heads before continuing.

Boar held up his left hand, showing three fingers, circled his hand and pointed. Bear, Horse and Goat moved ahead on the left sweep, checking doorways and the dingy breezeways between building units. Bear signaled back ''clear'' and the three took up attack positions on the left side of the street.

Boar gestured again, his right hand this time. Cat led Dove and Nightingale down the right side. There was a longer wait, as Nightingale checked an open side barn that the farmers had used to store broken wagons and trash. He emerged and shook his head in a clear, over-emphatic gesture. Dove checked the main entrance of what appeared to be the town hall. He turned back and made a gesture of clasping his hands together that boar knew meant ''locked'' or ''chained''.

Boar strode across to Pelican, who was gazing around the dismal place speculatively. Boar's feet splashed through puddles of gore-like rainwater that had accumulated in the gouged tracks of the muddy street.

''Like Kindazaki, you think?'' Boar asked.

Pelican shook his head. ''Something feels different, captain. Oh, we may find the townsfolk butchered in some corner, as Crow did in Kindazaki, but there is something else…''

Pelican lifted his face mask and slid it up so that the drizzle flecked his bare face. Had any other member of Hallow Winter done such a thing without permission, Boar would have reprimanded him for breaking one of the Anbu fundamental rules. But Pelican, old Pelican, had more experience than the others members and he could breathe in signs of danger. When Hallow Winter was formed, Pelican was the most experienced Anbu of their squad. Sometimes, Boar knew well, it paid to let him scent the location.

''Fear, anticipation, anxiety… the air is heavy with it, there are living souls here.''

''Hiding.''

''I would think so…''

Boar looked at Deer, the best sensor of the group; something had disturbed her senses when she attempted to scan the township. He wondered if he should hail the hidden people with a declaration of support and rescue. He decided against it. The quiet was unnerving but somehow he had no wish to break it.

Boar crossed to where Cat, Dove and Nightingale stood by the doors of the town hall. Pausing only to allow the pair to raise their weapons ready he cut the doors in with one powerful sword slash. A broken trailer chain dragged across the floor from the splintered doors, someone he realized had locked themselves in.

The four entered, weapons ready their eyes looking for targets. The room, a huge hall with wooden pillars, was dark, and the floor was scattered with debris. One massive skylight far above was shattered, and rain streamed in, flooding the floor. Nightingale tried the wall lever for the lights, but the power was out.

''The floor is flooded, rain.'' Nightingale's voice crackled.

''Not all of it.'' answered Dove. He had reached a far corner that was slick with red liquid though it was far away from the hole in the roof lights. ''That's rain. This is blood.''

He was right. It was impossible to tell where the rain ended and the blood began, but by any standards, there was a lot of blood. It splashed and smeared the walls, and there were smudges and occasional hand prints, but no sign of corpses. Boar moved through to a council chamber behind the main hall.

There was more blood here too, soaking the plain looking rugs and the soft furnishings of the rows of seats. The far end wall was covered in framed placards listing the names of the town's mayors and the annual harvest yields in proud yellow leaf. The boards were peppered and riddled with small arrows, punctured, holed and splintered, numerous blades, knifes, shields and broken spears could be seen as well.

Bear realized there were tens of arrows littering the bloody floor alongside the other weapons.

''Quite a fight.'' Said Dove beside him.

Cat looked over a few of the weapons picking up one of the swords. ''The quality of the weapons is too high for simply bandits.'' She placed the sword back down on the floor. ''Perhaps, the armed forces of country arrived here during whatever occurred.''

Bear nodded. ''Most likely.''

''What were they fighting here?'' Nightingale asked, moving forwards past them. He pointed, and to their expert eyes it was clear that the damage made distinct arcs and sprays across the wall, as if continuous arrows had been fired trying to chase and catch targets that had moved with frightening speed.

Dove kicked open a door to the left, off the council room, and found store closets and filthy cloakrooms. Blood covered the grimy blue tiles in here too, and the wooden latrine stalls had been destroyed, by the looks of it people had ended up fighting in there as well. Behind the council room, down a long onyx tiled hallway, they found a chapel dedicated to Inari, depicted as the provider of bounty and fruitful harvest.

But the statue of Inari, had been decapitated, one of the loathsome daemon-form dolls, had been nailed to the statue's chest. Words composed of letters and symbols so foul they made Boar sick to see them had been daubed across the plinth. Beside him, the captain heard Nightingale cough and gag behind his mask, choking on his rising gorge. ''Nightingale?'

''I'm alright captain, it just...its sends shivers down my spine for some reason.''

Boar raised his sword, swung and destroyed the deformed statue and the corn-doll into fragments with a series of sword slashes. ''Cat take the lead and continue searching this place, Deer try to sense this town again.''

Outside, across street, Bear heard his captain's words, with Horse and Goat; he held the positions on the left side of the thoroughfare. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a small shadow moving and jinking in a disordered pattern. Fifteen paces off, behind the row of buildings.

''Contact!'' he reported.

''Ah!'' a shout was heard before Pelican's voice followed. ''Deer's down, moving in to assist.''

Horse and Goat saw it too, and the trio swung around to address the buildings on the left side.

Goat looked at him uneasy. ''Do we go in?''

''Captain?'' Bear queried.

''We're coming out.'' Boar returned over the link. ''Move in.''

* * *

><p>''What's the situation with Deer?''<p>

''Just unconscious captain, she should recover soon, I don't know exactly what happened, and considering that she was trying to senses this place when the creature appeared and her subsequent problem, the two I believed are linked.''

''Understood, stay safe and await further orders.''

* * *

><p>Bear, Horse and Goat moved off the street down a littered breeze-way, a side alley that took them along behind the store barns and smithies into the back yards of shanty terraces. Horse broke open the door of a shed and advanced through the gloomy interior, passing farm vehicles under tarpaulin wraps. Rusty chains dangled from the low beams of the roof.<p>

Bear and Horse pushed through a back gate made of rain-warped pulp board and slid along a crumbling brick wall, thick with black moss and lichens. They were in a narrow back ditch behind the habitats where they backed on to the farm shops and the farm shed.

The light was bad and the rain heavier. The swirling black clouds seemed to be right down low over their heads.

''There.'' said Dove pointing ahead. ''It's in that outbuilding.''

The structure was a single storey lean-to of corrugated iron. Bear and Dove advanced and approached the entrance at the western end, furthest from the main street. Horse signaled that she and Goat were approaching the other end from the back of a shed. Dove tried the door, easing the handle down, testing for locks.

Something came out of the lean-to, taking the door off its frame and slamming it into Dove. The force was so great that the man was thrown backwards and through the moldering wall on the other side of the ditch. He took down a section of rotting bricks and ended up on his back in the yard of one of the terraced houses. Just behind him, Bear braced and threw a combination of shurikens and kunais, raking a bright line of through the air that blew out the framework of the lean-to's left side. He tried to track the shape that had exploded out of the shed and floored Dove. It was all he could do to see it.

He glimpsed a quadruped, long and lean, twice the size of a man, it seemed, it was as blood-red. Bear saw a suggestion of teeth, huge as scythe blades, of claws, of a whipping tail, as long and knobbed and gristly as a length of human spine. All his throws missed, but they drove the thing back into the lean-to. He charged after it. ''Horse! For the love of Konoha! It's coming your way!'' he bellowed into his link.

At the far end of the shed, Horse and Goat tensed and unleashed their own storm at the beast, but were still too slow. A red blur, something they couldn't even see but knew must be there, burst out of the shed and leapt up over their projectiles.

Horse felt a hard impact and lurched away, winded and dazed, falling sideways and hard into a stack of wagon wheels. She heard Goat exclaim over the radio. An utterance of surprise roughly cut off.

Boar, Cat with Nightingale close behind, came out of the rear of the shed at a run. They found Horse slumped against the rusting wheel hubs. Something had ripped through the front of her chest, making three jagged stripes in the vest; blood leaked out of the torn armor. There was no sign of Goat except his fallen sword.

They regrouped at their chose base of operations. Cat and Nightingale carried Horse in and tended to her wounds. The rents were deep and blood wept out of her like rainwater. Bear was dazed but intact. Boar tuned up the units radio and hunted for Goat, hoping to find a sign of him, there was nothing. It was as if Goat had simply vanished.

Cat could see how black Boar's mood was, and how spooked Hollow Winter was as a whole. They were all used to the superiority of the Anbu, the elite shinobi, and on the rare occasions they encountered something more formidable, it left them dazed.

For herself, Cat couldn't begin to account for the speed of the thing. It had moved so fast, so powerfully, she hadn't even seen it clearly.

''I must find him.'' Boar told Pelican quietly. ''Alive or dead, I will find Goat.''

Pelican nodded. He expected no less of his captain.

''I simply won't accept that he's just vanished.'' Boar cast a dour look at their unit's radio equipment. ''You felt life here, which we have found, that creature though.''

''It was part instinct and part ability, I was never that good of a sensor, the years have aided me in that field at least.'' He cast a look at the sleeping form of Deer. ''She is more talented than I at sensing. That creature may have some sort of aura; I believe its presence is what overwhelmed Deer. I felt something since approaching this place, captain. It may have been that thing.''

''You felt fear, old friend. That thing faced down three Anbu and took one of them as a trophy. It was not afraid.''

''True, so we cannot trust any of our sensing abilities.''

''No, indeed.'' said Boar. ''Something's disrupting it, something that's hiding Goat, the locals… and that thing.''

''You believe that there could something else and not the creature that's causing this?''

''Perhaps, there are only a few things that could disrupt a sensor in such a way and I do not see them here, either way we will need to engage the creature in combat.''

''Search teams!'' ordered Boar, his voice sounding strange and raw, unfiltered by the radio. ''Section the town and take it apart!''

The six remaining active members of Hallowed Winter squad searched Kotanuka, basement by basement, attic by attic, barn by barn, silo by silo. They worked in pairs. Horse, whose wounds had at last been staunched by Pelican's medical jutsu and supplies, stayed at the base, watching the streets from the roof tops while keeping an eye one the unconscious Deer.

As he searched, Boar went over the report he had sent to Crocodile and Kawada at Tawamoto. He told them exactly what had occurred and their current situation, several scenarios were considered before ultimately being rejected. One was for his team to dig in and await reinforcements, ultimately the plan would be used if they suffered casualties, and there was the risk to the people of township to consider, the cult's interest in it and creature's presence that could still disappear back into the countryside to kill others if not stopped.

With the rest of the townships cleared Crocodile has reorganizing their forces, a part would stay in Tawamoto in case of other cult activity and the remote possibility of the creature's presence being a trap, the rest of the squads would move out and head towards Kotanuka in a net formation.

A few messages came from Kawada, wanting to know the nature of the cult and more details on some of their findings.

Away from the base, Boar ignored the chime of the radio. He would do this his way. He would find Goat and salvage the situation. At the base, Horse heard the beep of the radio, all but demanding a response. It would involve a great deal of pain to climb down into the cabin, so she screened it out, no doubt someone would silence the man.

Nightingale and Pelican found them in the basement crypts of a temple at the north end of the main street. Three hundred and fifty farmers and family members cowered terrified behind locked and barricaded doors.

Under Pelican's supervision, the civilians were brought out and taken to shelter in the farmstead's mess hall, a long, low building full of trestle tables and crude metal chairs. Medical aid was provided by Pelican who remained to guard them while Nightingale broke open the stores and made food for them on the mess hall's ranges. Boar and Cat questioned the farm leaders, three scared and emaciated men. ''We heard what happened at Kindazaki?, so we decided to hide. Some… thing came, killing dozens. That's when we hid in the crypt.''

''This thing… what is it?'' asked Boar.

''For the love of Inari, we didn't even see it!''

''It came in! It slaughtered!''

Boar looked over at cat. ''So Kotanuka is to be made a sacrifice like Kindazaki?''

''It seems so, captain… and therefore the cultists are hiding out there in the corn fields.''

Boar got up and stalked the room. Something wasn't right. He could feel that as plainly as he was sure pelican felt his ''scents''. The doll back at Tawamoto clearly marked this place as a cult centre, or at least a place where cultists were active. Yet there was nothing here but townsfolk driven underground by some beast, and an attempt made to bleed the populace for the worship of some otherness deity. Which was it? A cult centre or an innocent place? It couldn't be both.

And if it was innocent, what of the doll at Tawamoto? What had been its purpose? To… bring them here? The leader of the farmers broke off his reverie.

''You will save us, won't you, brave shinobi? Please!'' Boar nodded. He would. He swore it.

Bear and Dove were searching the grain silos at the eastern edge of Kotanuka when the rains came down in a torrent. Flash floods of grain and squirming weevils burst from the sodden hoppers and washed around their feet. Bear moved forward into the pelt, his sword ready.

When Dove glimpsed the red shape flashing through the rain, he first thought it a ghost image; a phantasm conjured by his mind. Then he realized he could still see it after blinking several times. Dove threw a storm of shurikens of the creature aiming to cripple it while preparing a lighting jutsu; he sent a quickly single to the other to let them know that the beast had been spotted and engaged in battle.

Bear ploughed over to join him, one arm on his sword, the other on his shuriken pack, in time to see the great bestial thing, with its whipping spinal chord tail, flying out of the rain to take Dove down.

Bear emptied his pack of shurikens into the side of the monster, the beast howled in pain and he could see other marks on its body, not doubt the work of his squad mate. It was busy killing Dove and thus formed a stationary target for an instant. Seeing the first blows land he mad a quick decision and threw his explosive tags tied to his kunai. If it hadn't paused to rip Dove asunder, it would have been moving too fast to allow such a blow. He blew it apart with his kunais and explosive tags, the open wounds making ideal targets. Tissue and bloody matter exploded into the downpour.

Bear's sense of triumph was short-lived. Dove had been decapitated and eviscerated by the thing in the blink of an eye. The dead Anbu lay sprawled beneath the exploded carcass of the daemon. Bear opened his radio and reported in. ''We have slain the beast!''

Boar exclaimed to the farm folk around him. ''Winter Hallow, with me! You people stay here until we return. Your nightmare is at an end. '' Winter Hallow squad formed up and left the mess hall. None of them noticed the disquieted looks the farmers gave them.

Bear watched over Dove's body and waited for the others of Winter Hallow to arrive. He tried to imagine what the thing's purpose had been. To kill and terrify the township, that was certain. But what else? Why had it been here? What had it been protecting? Despite his orders, Bear crept forward and entered a silo to the left of the alley. What he saw chilled him to his soul. In the open metal bin of the silo's base, an altar had been arranged. Candles fluttered and hideous patterns had been inscribed on the walls. Goat hung, upended, on a crucifix made of baler twine and wire. He had been tortured and abused, his armor stripped off.

The Children of the Last Lord, twenty of them, resembling those Crow and his squad had slaughtered in Kindazaki, stood around performing a ceremony.

Goat looked wounded, perhaps close to death, with the squad on their way there was a chance to rescue the man, quickly Bear made his decision, a small tap of his foot started everything. One of the cultists turned and saw Bear. He cried out in alarm. In an instant, the twenty ritual heathens turned and pulled out weapons, swords, daggers, bows, he chuckled as one of the cultists threw a wooded stick at him, while another one threw a spear.

Bear drew two kunais waded into the chamber, easily he dodged the clumsy attempts of the cultists to hit him. He made the first move, swinging his kunais, cutting down one cultist after another.

When he reached the crucifix, he paused to look over Goat. ''I'll get you out of here, pal, don't worry.'' Bear said. He looked around himself, all the cultists were dead and from little he could sense no one else was there, he looked back to the entrance and concentrated ignoring Goat's mumblings, no one else was near either, but he knew they would be there soon enough.

With a quick move he grabbed a scythe from the floor and stabbed Goat in the chest with it puncturing his heart. ''You should have kept your mouth shut and laid low'' he shook his head ''you had such a good thing going for you there at the academy, sensei told us all about your little stunt, idiot. A shame, you got Horse injured with your incompetence, why couldn't you just die there? No response eh? Well, good bye old friend.''

* * *

><p>As investigator Shinji Kawada later concluded in his summation of the Land of Rivers's cultist outbreak, the main cult centre was Kotanuka township; and not Tawamoto at all. When the main uprising in Tawamoto was overthrown, the cultists had left deliberate traces to draw the forces investigating the attacks to the remote harvest town, where they intended to perform a sacrifice for their new lord. The beast that Bear had killed… that had just been a diversion, a guardian force, to keep the armed forces busy.<p>

Kotanuka and its people all converted to the new belief and wanted a strong warrior as sacrifice. Everything they had done had been for the purpose of ritually spilling the blood of people for their god, to empower him and to ask for his blessing.

* * *

><p>Boar only took a step out into the open with his squad to support Bear, when they found themselves attacked from all sides by the very farmers they had sworn to save.<p>

The cultists, who but minutes before had seemed to be ailing farm workers eager for help, came at them from all sides. They were feral, insane.

''Kill them! Kill them all!'' Boar told his troops as they fought towards the silo.

Their armor and their weapons were more then a match for the cultists, jump from place to place, Boar reigned death down of them, Cat charged through their lines, slicing throats and eviscerating people left and right.

Nightingale joined the fray, using genjutsu to confuse his enemies before cutting through them, Pelican snapped and twisted necks all around him, Horse killed anyone getting close to her position using her kunai and shurikens; she blinked once when she saw that Deer had recovered and joined the battle.

* * *

><p>In the end all of the people in the town had been put down alongside them more joined as cultists from the surrounding fields joined the attack.<p>

Pelican approached his vice captain who looked out at the stormy sky. ''Your thoughts, vice captain?''

The woman turned slowly towards him, a far away look in her eyes. ''I...should have done better here.''

''Oh?''

''If I had gone in a different direction perhaps Dove and Goat would still be alive, perhaps I could have... ''

''You did what you thought was right at the moment, there's nothing wrong with that, you didn't know where the enemy was, you couldn't have know in which direction the beast lay.''

''Still...''

He shook his head laying a hand on her shoulder. ''Don't let your mind be consumed by such thoughts, everyone makes mistakes, I made them, the captain made them. You followed his orders didn't you?''

''Yes.'' Cat nodded.

''And you have learned from this?''

''Yes.''

''Then that it is all there is to it, you should not doubt your abilities.''

''Given my time on the squad I don't think I deserved to be given the position.''

''I believe our captain chose you because he saw potential, swords are not forged in mud they are forged in fire. I believe this was one such occasion.''

''Thank you.''

He nodded and departed casting a look at his captain who was talking to squad member overlooking the road into the township.

''Mission accomplished, in every sense of the word.''

''Dove's loss is regrettable.''

''Aye, still this is a truly fortunate hand we've been dealt, Goat needed to be removed and now we have the best excuse for it.''

''Yes, a shame the fool couldn't act like a proper meat shield for Horse.''

''Pelican said she'll recover.''

''She regrets not throwing him head first into the creature's teeth when she had the chance.''

''Heh, will you inform sensei on the matter?''

''I'm sure that he will find out through the usual channels about our comrade's passing.''

''Death to traitors and fools.''

''Indeed.''

* * *

><p><em>A victory of sorts<em>. It didn't feel that way to Boar. He ignored investigator's Kawada's attentions as he led his battered squad out onto the field to depart towards Konoha.

''You have done a fine job, Boar. The Hokage will be proud of your squad.'' Kawada's voice was lofty as ever.

''I walked my people into a trap you should have seen, investigator,'' Boar replied as the watched his squad assemble. Next time fire willing, you will do better.''

Bearing their dead, Winter Hallow left the Land of Rivers and began making their way back home. Behind them, unceasingly the rain fell.

* * *

><p>-The Anbu part is yet another story I changed around slightly, I don't own it, those who want to read the origina, which I encourage should check out the book Brothers of the Snake<p>

by Dan Abnett.

-personally I think I did a good job with the Katsue and Iruka scene, I know that in the manga it was the third who had a similar talk with him, and in the anime it was expanded to include Kakashi, so I decided to mix and mash things together. Thought on the result?

-good news is that if we're going by the 1 chapter/1 month then I have the chapter until February written out and only needing editing. Depeding on how I wrap up the final year at the academy for Naruto and Tenten's first year as a genin I could be switching to shorter chapters with more frequent updates, 2 chapters/month.

-this chapter was supposed to be uploaded on the 5th however I got side tracked reading Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria by Eiji Mikage and Mokushiroku Arisu by Takaya Kagami, I plowed through the first two novels of Maria while going through the three of Arisu. While I recomande both series, Arisu felt at first like a bad Naruto fanfiction with the protagonist being an ashole, who is powerful and people still seem to like him for some reason. While one had mystery the other had action and made a good pair.

Anything you recognize belongs to someone else. Any overtly original twists placed on old ideas you may wish to incorporate, feel free. Completely original ideas and concepts, please ask.

Review away

Constructive criticism or pointing out possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.

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10) Thou shalt voice thine expectations


	19. Chapter 18 : Year IV part II

**I do not own Naruto.**

Talk now – normal talk  
><em>What now<em> – normal thoughts  
><strong>Speak – biju, higher being talk<strong>  
><em><strong>Listen<strong>_** – biju, higher being thoughts**

**Chapter 18 : Year IV part II**

Naruto grunted as he took a punch to his stomach and fell down, he heard his white haired teacher call the match; quickly he got up and dusted himself off, his opponent held out her hand for the seal of reconciliation, for his part Naruto smiled and completed the seal.

He looked for a moment at his opponent's back and was content that at least the girl didn't brag about her victory. It was something that still irked him, while he had to show great restraint, his sister could go wild at times, and she had done so at a few points already.

_Sacrifices are necessary and all; I can't wait to get to the middle of pack, once there I'll be able to show more skill._

Making his way out of the circle he noticed his second teacher, Umino Iruka, giving him an odd look. It was something else that irked him; he wasn't sure what had occurred, however in the last few weeks the man's attitude towards him had changed significantly. The looks of suppressed loathing and hatred where replaced with something else, concern he reckoned.

_Maybe after he called me a demon the Hokage had a few words with him, he either punished the man or manipulated him emotionally._

Naruto remembered the moment upon the Hokage Monument when the third Hokage had given him the will of fire speech; he reckoned that the old kage definitely had skill for manipulating people.

_Well either way, just something I need to watch out for, shouldn't be surprised if he tries to get close to me._

As he exited the sparing circle and began to make his way towards Yakumo, his third problem, the Hyuuga girl, fumbled with her hands and shyly looked at him.

"Y-you d-did a good j-job Naruto!"

He blinked and looked at the girl like he had grown a second head, it was very rare for him to receive a compliment from his classmates, most of those where for the pranks he pulled; he could count the number of compliments he received for his fighting abilities on hand with plenty of fingers to spare.

The only people from his class that actually gave him any meaningful compliment were Yakumo and Chouji. He blinked again, he feared his mask would crack before he recovered and quickly mended it. He gave her his usual boisterous smile and grin with a hint of sadness in it. "No I didn't, I lost."

The girl he noticed seemed to retreat inwards before Naruto continued. "Next time I will definitely win, just watch!"

The girl brightened and nodded, he smiled one more time before making his way towards Yakumo_. I really have to deal with her, on one hand she doesn't appear to be against me, on the other hand her stalking isn't something I want to continue, the game has been fun however she's getting rather good at it, well for her age and the small effort I put into it. Something else I'll need to talk about when I visit the god realm._

* * *

><p>Tenten crossed her arms as she leaned back towards the wall behind her. "I don't see a problem with it."<p>

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You don't sister, I do."

Tenten raised an eyebrow looking at her brother in all but blood. "How is getting invited to a sleepover something bad? I wouldn't mind doing something like that."

Naruto huffed. "That's for little children."

Tenten looked at her brother with a deadpan expression. "Uh huh, right…."

Naruto rolled his eyes at her exasperated. "You know what I mean; I think I would have problems keeping the mask in place during such an event."

"Well all the more reason to go then" she smiled at him "look at it as training."

Naruto nodded rubbing his chin. "That's one way of looking at things I suppose, I'm not sure what we would be doing there, I mean, I haven't even heard about anyone doing such a thing."

Tenten shrugged. "Play games or something, think of it this way you could try and use Yukimura's magic trick to see if he can copy any scrolls in the compound."

"True but…"

"Yeah" she nodded "they may catch you in the act, or sense the odd new energy in place."

"It would be hard to explain that, besides I don't think Chouji's room would be next to the clan vault or something."

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Just an idea to play with brother, come one I missed the old place."

* * *

><p>The two found Yukimura and Sayaka in the living room drinking tea again, Yukimura was wearing a dark red kimono while Sayaka was wearing dark blue one.<p>

Sayaka smiled towards the two. "Welcome back."

They smiled and nodded. "It's good to be back." Naruto took the chair in front of Sayaka while Tenten took the one in front of Yukimura.

Tenten gently picked up one of the cups carefully testing the drink's temperature. "What's on the agenda this time?"

Yukimura poured more tea to Sayaka's cup. "The usual training and something…extra."

"Anything special?" Tenten asked with a raised eyebrow.

Yukimura shrugged. "Depends on what you understand by special."

Tenten smiled. "Well I for one can't wait…"

Naruto placed his cup down again looking at the two. "That reminds me, I wanted to talk to you about a small irk I'm having."

"Something you can't deal with on your own?" Sayaka placed her own cup down on the table and leaned back into her chair.

Naruto nodded. "In part, there's the situation with one of my teachers, Umino Iruka, who's been acting strange recently, I think it's because of the old man's intervention that he made his face heel turn. No, what I really want to talk to you about is the Hyuuga girl in my class."

"Heh" Tenten snickered "you're little stalker friend."

Naruto shook his head. "That girl needs a hobby."

Tenten smirked at him. "Stalking is a hobby."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "So is serial killing, but you don't see me encouraging it."

Yukimura smiled breaking into the conversation. "Ah, so she wasn't let up on her pursuit."

"No, she's pretty good at hiding and tracking I'll give her that, not Anbu level, still she's good at it."

"And you hate her?" Sayaka asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" He looked back at them surprised."No, when did I ever say that?"

"Do you have something against her?" Sayaka asked looking intently at him.

Naruto shrugged. "Beside her chosen favorite activity, no, I enjoyed the game until now…" he looked away from them towards one of the walls in the room.

"Brother?" Tenten asked concerned leaning towards her brother.

Naruto shrugged and quickly took a sip of tea going over the words in his head while the three waited his response, he could see a look of concern on their faces. "After I started the new academy year in the class it didn't take long for most of them to gain that look everyone has for me. Chouji and Yakumo were the exception, I figured their parents or someone else told them to stay away from me. "

"Brother…" Tenten squeezed her brother's shoulder leaning in to envelop him in hug.

Naruto nodded. "It's alright, the thing is that she was different, she didn't look at me like that, maybe I missed it at first and it only changed later, never the less I didn't see the same thing in her eyes, they looked so clear, so pure. I don't think she's bad or anything."

Both Yukimura and Sayaka turned to each other, a silent a conversation taking place, eventually they both nodded.

"Well" Yukimura began "then it's decided, you can bring her here."

"What!" both Naruto and Tenten looked at the two stunned.

Sayaka smirked at their expressions. "You heard correctly, let her follow you into the clearing where the portal is located, knock her out and then bring her here."

"Why?" Naruto asked looking at the two.

"Why not?" Sayaka smiled at the two again and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

Yukimura leaned towards the table pouring himself more tea. "She doesn't sound like a bad person, or well child, her behavior could be the result of a multitude of events. Besides would it hurt for you two to have another friend, one who knew about us?"

Tenten nodded and brought her cup towards Yukimura as well. "Not really, I would be kind of nice, even if she would be very young." She narrowed her eyes at the two. "There's more to this isn't there?"

"Hmm?" Yukimura smiled. "What are you implying?"

Naruto nodded. "She's right, why would you two want me to bring her here, why not Chouji or Yakumo, why her?"

Sayaka set her own cup on the table. "Why her indeed, she has potential."

Tenten took a sip of tea looking at the two. "So you know more about her."

Yukimura nodded. "We've gained a bit of knowledge both from your use of my magic, and another source."

"That source being?" Naruto asked.

"A secret, for now." Yukimura replied leaning back in his chair.

"A secret?" Tenten asked suspiciously.

"For now, we will reveal that particular one next year, towards the middle of the year." Yukimura replied studying their reactions intently.

"Really?" Naruto asked stunned before shaking his head. "What's so important about it, why not reveal it now?"

Sayaka and Yukimura exchanged a look between them before Sayaka answered the question. "There are items in motion now that can't be stopped and that must not be stopped, we hope that the two of you will find it in your hearts to forgive us for keep the secret."

Tenten bit her lip seeing their expression. "Is it that bad?"

"No. Yes." Yukimura and Sayaka looked at each other again given their conflicting answers.

Yukimura nodded towards Sayaka before replying. "It depends on your point of view."

Naruto's eyes narrowed and he grit his teeth. "So we're not prepared to understand it now?" the conversation had started to remind him of his interactions with the third Hokage and he wasn't pleased about it. "Or are we not in the right mind set yet?"

Yukimura sighed seeing their expressions. "A bit more time under your belts wouldn't hurt the two of you."

"As for the mindset" Sayaka began "we'll leave that up to you to decide."

Naruto let out a tired breath knowing how the conversation would end. "Are your own plans in motion, the one you kept talking about?"

"Yes."

"And you'll be able to reveal more next year." Naruto pressed.

Yukimura nodded. "Yes, we'll tell you everything next year."

Sayaka continued the conversation. "And if you then find that you can not trust us, then we will accept your decision."

"Brother…."

Naruto sighed tiredly. "Alright then, we'll wait until next year."

Sayaka smiled towards him. "Very well."

Yukimura nodded at the two. "This brings up to another sensitive topic."

"Oh?" Naruto asked curiously.

Yukimura picked up his cup again. "Tell us have you noticed something different about the Uchiha clan lately?"

Naruto shakes his head. "Not more than usual, I haven't been paying them too much attention."

Tenten briefly scratches her chin thinking on the matter. "They seem to have gotten even stiffer as of late, their body language seems to have gotten more tense."

Naruto cursed himself for not keeping his eyes open.

"Correct" Yukimura nodded his head again "the clan is planning a coup against Konoha."

"What?!" The two shouted in surprise.

"How do you know that?" Naruto asked.

Yukimura kept his smile contained. "We have our own sources that we shall reveal next year alongside the other matters."

Tenten looked between the two. "What do we do about the matter?"

"Nothing."

Tenten asked looking bewildered. "Nothing? But if their planning a coup then..."

Sayaka shrugged. "The situation is already known to the higher ups in Konoha, it's in their hands now."

Tenten could almost see the end result of the decision. "It's going to end in blood isn't it?"

Yukimura nodded.

She stopped herself from snapping, if the clan was planning betrayal then chances were high that that blood would be spilt. "I take it that we can't stop it from occurring?"

Yukimura shook her head. "No, there are so many issues finding a solution would be extremely difficult, and even then it is likely that the clan would reject it in favor of the coup. These issue have existing since the founding of the village, and have pilled up over time, perhaps, there is still a chance to untangle the mess that has been weaved however many will simply refuse the long and arduous processes required for such a thing, no they will chose the shorter road, one that could lead to ruin and death. "

Naruto joined the conversation seeing the possible consequences. "It could start a civil war in Konoha, and that in turn could trigger a new war if the other villages smell weakness, with the Kyuubi incident it could still look like we're weak, this would just tip things over."

Tenten shook her head. "There's no way that can happen, it won't be allowed, if the clan doesn't back down then its going to be put down hard and fast."

Yukimura nodded. "Correct."

"So we stand by and watch everything occur?" Tenten asked glaring at the duo.

Sayaka nodded. "Yes, there isn't much you can do. Like we've said before, these issues have existed for a long time and the people have gotten far too bitter about them to let everything go. "

"You could reveal our presence and see what happens, most likely it would end with the two of you locked up in a dark cell somewhere and perhaps the Uchiha's would get a pat on the back for revealing such a thing, of course you could also get your throats slit after a lengthy torture session. It's doubtful that they would believe that I am a god, and even if they did what would change? Would they back down from the coup? Would they swallow their wounded pride? Given their arrogance it's more likely that they would try to control me to gain an upper hand in their plans. "

Sayaka squeezed his hand. "In any case, what we can do is plan around this issue."

Naruto blinked looking at the two. "Are you suggesting we take advantage of whatever is about to happen to the clan?"

"Yes."

He shrugged. "Alright, what are your plans?"

Tenten rounded her brother. "Brother!"

He looked at her surprised. "What? I never liked them to begin with and they never liked me either, from what I've heard I doubt they would settle for a peaceful solution, because even with their great love for Konoha I don't think the higher ups would immediately jump to hostile action that would involve war with the clan, chances are that they are long past the point of accepting any other solution then the coup."

Tenten grit her teeth. "I understand that, it's just that…, it will end in blood, I can understand that, it's just, to actually propose to use that to our advantage. It still feels wrong."

Yukimura grimaced looking at the two. "The world isn't always a pretty place, the shinobi world especially, there will be times when you will be faced with these kinds of situations, sadly, and as horrifying as it sounds, you will have to make the best of it."

She lowered her head. "It still feels wrong."

Sayaka nodded. "Yes, in a better world, this wouldn't occur, sadly we live in one where we must make such a choices." Seeing her sad face. "Of course, if you find a way to make the world better, then perhaps in the future such a thing will not be necessary."

"How can I do that?"

Naruto turned around and looked at his sister. "Why would you change it?"

Yukimura smiled. "That will be up to you to figure out, we don't have an answer that worked that well, for every world things are different."

Sayaka nodded. "In the end just do what you think will make the world a better place and hope that someone will eventually continue the work you started."

"Alright."

"Now perhaps we should take a small brake, to cool our heads."

* * *

><p>"Brother…" She began looking at Naruto.<p>

He shrugged. "I'm alright."

"No, you're not." She gently squeezed his shoulder.

"You aren't either."

"Yeah…."

Naruto let out a tired sigh. "It's just that… it feels like something the old goat would, withhold information until I'm of the right mindset, one that what have me see things as he wants and to ignore what may inconvenience him."

"Do you really think so?"

Naruto nodded. "A part of me does, it's just, why keep secrets like this?"

"Maybe it is something bad, something that we aren't ready to handle."

He nodded. "Yeah, but how bad do you think it is, to keep it under wrap for so long?"

She smiled at him. "I don't know, well, I guess we'll find out next year, we've trusted them so far and they haven't led us astray, for the moment let's keep going for a while longer, alright?"

"Alright." He chuckled and smiled at her. "You're acting like the regular big sister nowadays."

"Well" she smiled crossing her arms. "I am one."

"Technically speaking… "

"I'm older then you as far as everyone outside are concerned…"

"Well…"

"And" she smirked. "I'm taller then you..."

Naruto pouted. "You just have to rub it in don't you? Besides I've caught up with you."

"Eh" she shrugged "there's still a few centimeter difference, so age plus height equals I'm the older one."

Naruto pouted again looking away from her. "Stupid sister logic."

Tenten moved closer and patted Naruto on the head. "It's alright you are catching up to me in height at least."

He smirked turning his head towards his sister. "And you in mind."

"Oh" she asked titling her head to a side "what's that mister accidentally sprayed the toilet seat then sat down on it because you forgot?"

Naruto blanched. "It only happened once, and I was preparing for a prank!"

"My point still stands."

"Fine, you win this round….barely."

"Listen." She began the humor from her voice disappearing.

"Hmm?"

"Are you really alright with letting a conflict between the two factions occurring?"

He rubbed his chin. "I can't say I like either one that much, and if they chose to go down the violent route can you honestly say they don't deserve it?"

"It's just, it seems that either way people will get hurt, they'll lose their loved ones."

"If they chose to go down that path, then they must know that there a chance that will happen, no one's forcing their hand are they? You've seen the clan around the village, they have their jobs, as the police men and they can be active shinobi as well, and they seem to want more than that."

"Yeah, but just because we can't see it doesn't mean that things aren't bad for them."

He snorted. "Shinobi are meant to endure right?"

She nodded grimly. "Yes."

"Well, it looks like these guys, are done with that, rather then gritting their teeth and showing the world that they aren't assholes, letting their deeds speak for themselves, it sounds like these guys are all gathered up and in their little compound crying away about how they don't have more power because of their name."

"I think Yukimura's attitude has rubbed of on you, and maybe there's something else there?"

"Nah, I just don't like them, the history books talk about how great their clan is, how integral it was to the founding a Konoha."

She smirked. "Whose fan we are not."

"Right, how great they are thanks to those thieving eyes of their, but you know what, even with those eyes, they haven't had a Hokage, ever. Even with all the prestige these guys have, it doesn't seem it's enough for them, no, they want more but aren't willing to pay the price for it, and so they'll try and cheat, again."

"You really don't like them do you?"

"They keep giving me the stink eye and think I can tell, I didn't ask to be made into a sacrifice, I'm in the same boat as them and yet they seem to think like I'm the cause of their problems. At least they don't try anything, but, uh, back at the start of the first year, there was this Uchiha family there, you should have seen the glare the mother was giving me, like my very existence offended her; just being in the same area was some sort of insult to her."

Tenten frowned. "You never told me about that."

He shrugged. "I didn't want to ruin your day" he smiled "you were happy, about starting the academy."

"Screw that!" she rounded on him "You should have told me."

"It wouldn't have changed anything."

"So what!" She grabbed the collar of his shirt shoving her face close to his. "We're family we should tell each other stuff like that!"

Naruto nodded lowering his head feeling his eyes watering. "Thanks."

"It's what big sister is here for." She patted him on the head again.

"Uh, shut up."

"Don't worry, if the Hyuuga girl joins up, maybe you can be a big brother as well."

He snorted. "Oh joy."

"Come on, lets brag something to eat, before going back, I'm sure a bit of rose syrup will help to brighten your mood."

"Know it all."

"Heh, it's what big sisters do."

* * *

><p>"So, I take it we've calmed down a bit?" Yukimura asked leaning into his chair.<p>

The two nodded.

"Good, then we can continue."

"What do you want to do?" Tenten asked taking a rising a cup of tea from the table.

"While you may not like it, we are proposing to take advantage of the upcoming incident with the Uchiha clan."

"Oh?" Naruto asked pouring Sayaka more tea.

Sayaka smiled at him. "It would be an ideal time to gain access to the Hokage's office with him around; time that we can use to copy whatever is in there."

"I see…" Tenten looked at the two intently "you're very confident that something bad will happen."

Sayaka smiled sadly at her. "It appears that it is unavoidable, the clan will not back down and the Hokage cannot back down more than he already has."

Yukimura continued. "Tell him how the clan members have been watching you lately, he will most likely assign Anbu guards to you for a time again, something that you will need to be on guard against."

Naruto smiled counted on his fingers the task ahead of him. "So lie to the old man, get into his office then while he's out dealing with whatever happens, something most likely bloody, use the magic trick to steal as much stuff as possible, sounds easy enough."

Sayaka smiled. "And something to help disable the viewing orb."

"What?" The two asked surprised.

"You have something like that?" Naruto asked.

"We've been working on that for quite some time now, with the spell we've come up it should give you some peace and quiet from that thing."

"How?"

Yukimura waved his hand. "The details are complicated to say the least; in essence it will gradually and overtime diminish the desire of the user to spy on you with it."

Tenten smiled. "That sounds neat."

Sayaka smirked. "We've also added a second little gift to it of course."

"Oh?"

"While the time may not be right now, however in the future we will be able to destroy it in a permanent manner."

"What?"

Yukimura smirked. "Hmm, our little trick will have a secondary function of planting a small explosive in the orb, one that we intend to use to get rid of the blasted thing once and for all."

"That sounds great." Naruto could almost imagine how much more comfortable his life would be if that occurred.

Sayaka nodded. "Sadly, the problem with that is that we can't use it right away as it would draw suspicion onto you."

"We need someone else to blame for the deed; the best option would be if it is destroyed during a crisis or an event that would draw people's attention away from it."

Naruto nodded. "And with us in the room with it while the Uchiha incident occurs we could be seen as partially responsible if not fully. I doubt the old man has let any Uchiha near it, if there's another crisis one where someone can get close to the orb…hm I see your point."

"Exactly."

Tenten grimaced raising her point. "You now I can't help but notice how everyone is dancing around the issue of what will happen to the Uchiha clan."

Naruto looked at her surprised. "Isn't it obvious sister? It will end in blood, there's just no other way around it."

Tenten grit her teeth. "Just how much blood and why aren't any of you reacting to it?"

He shrugged. "They dug their own graves; it would be a shame not to bury them in it?"

"What's wrong with you? How can you say that?"

Both Yukimura and Sayaka looked unfazed. "Both of us have seen far worse than this before."

Yukimura smiled sadly at her. "Understand, the clan can't win the upcoming battle, if they start the fight hundreds will die, the other clans won't take this laying down, neither will the non clan shinobi. A civil war will tear Konoha asunder, the clan would lose but many more would die, far to many, a new great war could start because of their actions and in that conflicts thousands will die, that much is guaranteed."

"He is right, they've made their graves and the time is coming for them to be buried in them."

Sayaka smiled at her. "Please understand Tenten, we have considered other options, sadly we don't see any of them succeeding as well as this one."

"This means…"

"People dying, yes it does, it comes down to saving many compared to the few, the clan has other options, ones that they refuse to acknowledge, even knowing that their actions could lead to the death of their children and spark a new war in which thousands more will die they refuse to back down. If you had to make such a choice what would you do?"

She gripped the arms of her chair. "I'd save the many; I would try to find another way, one that doesn't involve potentially starting a war."

Yukimura nodded. "Exactly, in very rare cases will you be forced between two choices, you often have far more then you believe, and ones that don't involve jumping of a damn cliff head first."

Sayaka looked at the two with a grimace. "You both will have to make hard choices in the future, consider this a learning experience."

"Could we try and run during the crisis?"

"You wouldn't get far if you did, we may gain a day or two tops, and then they would hunt you down. Without knowing when a ship leaves for Avalon it's useless to head towards Tea country."

"Ahh…."

"As for your second problem, you can bring the girl here in the coming week and we will present her with an offer."

"Right."

"Is something on your mind?" Sayaka asked.

Naruto shrugged running a hand through his hair. "It's, well, now that I think about, she looked so sad, at times, like she was in pain, I don't know why, I figured she was just shy, but I think there's something more to it then that, uhhh, really should have paid more attention to her, tsk I guess I'll find out more about it if accepts. "

Sayaka smiled warmly at him. "It is an extraordinary act of courage to come to know a stranger's pain." Her smiled turned bloodthirsty. "Now off to sparing with the both of you, that should help cool your burning blood."

* * *

><p>Naruto smiled as he spotted Hinata behind him, the girl had gotten better at staying hidden, when he realized that she wasn't doing anything bad by following him he decided to have some fun with it, he could still lose her anytime he wanted, however he wanted some amusement, so he started nudging her slowly, every time she made a serious mistake he would give away that he became aware of her presence, doing it overtime and at random mistakes, from small minor ones to the very large ones had helped the girl evolve in skill.<p>

The girl had started following him around since the start of the second academic year, and while he had found it amusing for a time, he hoped it would stop after her time in the god realm, one way or another. Their chases had been fun, whether in the middle of the village or in the forests in Konoha, the girl had managed to keep up with him, for the most part, those damn eyes of her certainly gave her an advantage. Though compared to the training he had gotten in the god realm even that advantage wasn't enough, showing too much skill against it would be reveling far too much too soon.

No, he simple bled her dry, disappearing from time to time and forcing her to use her special eyes, her reserves weren't that big and she would soon tire out, if he didn't wear her out by having her chase him around the old fashioned way.

The girl, to her credit, and his relief, did have boundaries to her hobby, while she did follow him back to his home once or twice, the moment he got to his apartment she would leave, usually the girl watched him if he tended his rooftop garden, though even that was rare. If the girl hadn't stopped a certain boundaries he knew he would have crushed her hobby without hesitation.

Still, now he really needed her to stop and find another hobby, while it was fun to test the byakugan's capabilities, he didn't want to deal with her tendencies in the future, he was already paranoid enough at it was, he didn't need her adding more to it then that.

_Damn shame she can't just talk to me during classes, besides a few words we don't talk that much, even those words feel like they are pried out. Heh, well let the chase begin. _

Like before, the girl would follow him around and he would lead her to training where he would exercise for a time, it followed a schedule of sorts. Once finished he quickly gathered his belongings and left, he could hear Hinata right behind, following at his shadow.

_Heh, here we go._ He made a beeline for the market purposely getting lost in the crowd, going between stalls, he did leave her the proverbial breadcrumbs to follow, he doubted she actually knew that expression, the story he himself heard it from was of another world, something that still made him grin whenever he fought about the matter, still he basic idea of the story was the same. Once he was certain she had found him, he picked up his pace again and started walking towards the forested area of Konoha.

* * *

><p>Hinata Hyuuga was started to get annoyed, she taken to observing a boy from her class, she didn't know what he was to her, she always felt better when she thought of him, she admired him, just looking at the boy brought a smile to her face, now though, the boy was putting on quite the chase, she wasn't sure of it he knew she was following him, she was always careful but the boy had a good sense about him and could sometimes if not see at least detect her presence and raise his guard.<p>

Her admiration for him had started at the beginning of her first year at the academy, from what she overheard he had joined the academy two years earlier however he hadn't been able to pass his first year the previous times and thus ended up in her own class.

She noticed that from the first day at the academy their teachers seemed to be against him for some reason, it started with one of them making fun of his dreams, something they didn't do to anyone else and it continued on from there. Even the other teachers at the academy sent him odd looks when he passed by them in the hallway.

Their own class's teachers regularly denigrated Naruto's efforts and came short of actually outright sabotaging him, she didn't notice if they actually did that, from what she had seen even by peaking over his shoulder his own homework and test papers were always judged much harsher the rest. And yet even with all of these things stacked against him, the boy simply worked harder, even with the pressure on him to fail he was slowly climbing towards the upper part of the class ranking.

Even with her wish to help him she had no one to turn to, if all the teachers at the academy gave him those cold looks, who could she turn to for aid there, for all she knew the headmaster was of a similar mind and would simply rebuke her observations, her family had told her to be wary of the boy.

From what she had observed Naruto didn't have anyone to help him or someone to rely on, he had two friends at the academy, the Akamichi and Kurama clan heirs, that he knew from before the academy. Yet even with only a few people acknowledging him, somehow he still kept his determination. She admired and envied that will he showed, it was something she couldn't muster herself.

The situation with her family had gotten worse lately, her father had began to concentrate more on her little sister and his attitude had shifted to something far colder then before, most of the elders had always seemed disappointed in her for some reason and now they cared even less about her. No matter how much she tried she couldn't keep with her cousin's rapid growth in skill, worse was when she was made to spar with her little sister, she refused to use everything against her and lost the sparing matches against her, the little support she had of the few elders that didn't seem to resent her died after she lost her third match.

From what she had overheard from the elders while her lack of skill against her cousin could apparently be overlooked it was her refusal to harm her sister that cemented her own fall from grace, her attitude was the problem something that couldn't be allowed in clan leader least the mistake be similar to the last one. She didn't know who the last one was, it couldn't have been her father or grandfather, for time the title of heir was put aside, their talk of making her sister the new heir.

Her own fate was that of either marrying her to someone in the main family or to relegate her to the branch house, given her advanced age it was unknown if she could survive the branding ritual, at least no decision had been made and didn't look like one would come in the near future. A few discussed the possibility of her own rise to prominence again or of making Hanabi the new heir and being done with the matter, however a few were preparing an all too different solution, that of someone else taking over the title.

As a family and as a clan they were all related by blood, the position of clan head had usually gone to the strongest and his children afterwards, her own great grandfather had managed to gain the title by challenging the last clan head and defeating him. The problem arose as it allowed anyone to challenge for the right to rule and with all of them being related by blood they had a right do so, the only exception to this were the branch family members. Slowly a civil war seemed to be brewing in the main family, with different sides having their own potential heirs to back for the title.

One good thing with the apparent loss of the title was that she had a lot more free time on her hands, the guards that usually escorted her from the academy become fewer until they stopped all together, something that apparently would have happened anyway when she much older.

The only real time she spent together with her family was when they attempted to train her, though even that time had gotten cut down, every time she trained with them they seemed to find more flaws with her.

She didn't remember when she started to secretly following the boy around, he looked like a bright beacon to her, she would observe him training for hours, it brought her some comfort seeing a person who was so similar to her fighting against fate. She used what little strength she gained from watching him and tried to train harder as well, whenever she felt tired and close to giving up she would remember how he still strived and continued gritting her teeth.

And yet it all seemed for naught, she couldn't seem to catch up to her cousin nor could she harm her little sister. Attempting to approach the boy was something she couldn't do, for her it seemed like there was a wall that blocked her and that she could never move past it. She barely managed to exchange a few brief words with him at the academy as it was.

A friend seemed something out of her reach, the girls in her class were divided into two sides, either fawning over the Uchiha boy and were bickering with each other because of it or they treated her with formality knowing of her apparent status. There weren't any girls close to her age in the main family and those in the branch family treated her with formality as well, only theirs had much more of an edge to it, an underlying sense of fear seemed present, with one blurting out after spilling a tray how she asked not to have the seal used on her.

Even if she wasn't the heiress she could still use the seal on them, and any attempt to form a friendship would be under the veil of it being something forced under pressure. Her own sister was much too young to understand what was going on, and in her own mind perhaps it was for the best.

And now here she was chasing the person she wanted to be friends with and yet felt she could never move past the wall that separated them, the boy had managed to slip her sight several times while in the market place before she caught sight on him again, going from stall to stall and mingling amongst the people. She saw him heading towards the forested areas of Konoha at an increased speed and she increased her own to keep up.

It wasn't unusual for him to train in those areas; they made it more difficult to observe rather then the wide open ones. She blinked several times after she saw that he had disappeared from her sight, she stopped and looked around herself, she couldn't find any tracks he had left behind, bringing two fingers up she decided to use her bloodline to find him again, to her shock she spotted him smiling right behind her, she saw him casually lifting his right hand, it was the last thing she felt before darkness took her, her last thought was how she had never heard him either approaching her or lighting his arm.

* * *

><p>"Well what do you think of this mess?" Sayaka asked sipping her tea.<p>

"Uh, this is why I hate the clans, or well the world that forces them to organize in such a way." Yukimura said looking towards his better half.

Sayaka smiled bitterly before her expression turned cold. "Hate the sin not the sinner? Charming, the people make the world not vice verse, this isn't some savage world where everything in nature wants to kill them, they do not such an excuse, please don't defend them with such an argument."

"You are correct."

"Naturally."

Yukimura let out a tired sigh. "Going through her memories was something I had hoped would be easier to deal with."

"No you didn't, we knew something similar to her current situation would exist, the scale would be different though."

"You know me to well."

"Someone has to, perhaps this is for the best, sadly, Yakumo will have to wait until she can be approached, if ever."

"Yes, I don't want to know how bad her memories would have been a few years from now; still, you think she will accept our proposal?"

"Of course she will; you're skeptical, I figured you'd have thought of ten different ways to manipulate her already?"

"Oh, I have, I just didn't consider using them."

"Ah, showing more heart, it's nice to know the real you is still in there."

"Well, you're here aren't you?"

"So true, she does remind me of us at that age."

Yukimura smiled bitterly. "We were more broken then her, physically and mentally."

"Her own mind has taken a beating, and would most likely continue if we do not intervene."

"The offer will be made."

"And I shall do so."

He smiled. "And you call me manipulative."

"You are, all I'm going do to is help her adjust."

Yukimura held his mouth shout letting his words die in his throat, the fact that the girl was still grieving for her mother and would latch onto Sayaka as a new mother figure went unsaid, he did know that unlike what they had done with Tenten, who had a grudge against her mother and where he had used a manipulation playing with the father figure she had only good, if brief memories, Sayaka had no second intention, no desire to manipulate the girl. "Handling her case will be difficult."

"Nothing we haven't prepared for, Naruto has already aided us in making the initial contact, and once she awakens she will simply think that she fell asleep and return home, at night we will draw her here and make our proposal. The only difficulty will be with drawing Naruto and Tenten to the realm while we accelerate the flow of time, even so we succeeded doing it with Tenten, this will be no different."

"Tsk, hopeful we can help her in those six months."

"Hm…there is plenty to work on."

"It's troubling you know."

"Hmm?"

"Going through her memories you must have noticed her father's face."

"Ah yes, so many emotions, love, regret, anger, fear, quite the puzzle."

"Yes, why fear though? I can't understand it, who does Hinata resemble that he fears? Regret I can understand anger as well, but fear? That's something I'm having difficulties."

"Perhaps he simply believes that she has potential, so we shall not disappoint him and bring out that potential."

"I love when you get that expression."

* * *

><p><em>Damn, I really should have seen the signs. <em>Naruto walked through the market place keeping a small smile on his face. _The clan members are so damn twitchy. Uhh, I've been slacking off; I've gotten used to the usual schedule and haven't been paying attention to the rest of the world. Well now that will have to change. Hmm, I guess I could make it a game to read peoples body language and possible motives. Actually that doesn't sound bad. That's how those two taught me the first time. Heh, not a bad idea, I wonder if sister will like the idea?_

* * *

><p>"I am curious about the orders given to the Kumo nin." Yukimura stated as he drank more of his tea.<p>

"Oh? I doubt it has anything written out, given their…profession."

"True, the orders had to have been verbal; it allowed Kumo plausible deniability in case of failure. However even with mental training, Konoha does have a clan that are believed to be experts in mind walking, they could pry out those thoughts if he was caught."

Sayaka nodded. "Ah, I understand, it is something possible; given the nature of shinobi it is actually very possible for this to be the case."

"Yes, if there wasn't anything left of the kidnapper to interrogate, if he died at the hands of a Hyuuga, the proof would die with him as well."

"Even if they emerged successful from the last war, the Kyuubi incident had still weakened Konoha and would be hard pressed to start a new war, in this case Kumo had the leverage if something were to happen to its ambassadors. It may well be that the kidnapping was always meant to fail for Kumo to gain an advantage at the political table."

"Indeed, the issue is that the Yamanaka could still enter his mind and discover the truth, even freshly dead as he was. Hmm…of course several cards could have been played that night."

"Aye, the others could have demanded the body as soon as it was discovered, Konoha would have been hard pressed, give their weakened state to keep the body, they could be accused of killing the man themselves to steal his secrets using the Yamanaka or by cutting his corpse open."

"It's something we may never know, unless we get our hands on the current Raikage."

"Small chance of that happening, sadly."

"Hmm, ah she has arrived; it's time to greet her."

"Good luck."

* * *

><p>Hinata blinked as she awoke, she tensed seeing she wasn't in her room, quickly she moved her head to the side where she caught sight of a woman was by the window of the room, her breath hitched seeing the woman, she had a soft smile on her face, smooth skin, and red hair, the sun made her hair look like it was on fire.<p>

The woman turned towards her. "Ah, you've finally awoken."

She swallowed heavily, before speaking, the woman's warm tone made it feel like she was wrapped in a blanket. "Who are you? Where am I?"

"My name is Sayaka, and you my dear are at my home."

Her own eyes felt locked on the woman before her, unable to move away. "How did I…."

The woman smiled. "You've been following someone important to me for some time now."

_Following someone around?_ "He knows?!" She half spluttered and half shouted.

Sayaka nodded. "Oh, yes, he simply lured here."

"Lured me?" she asked quietly feeling her blood turn to ice "...why….why would he..."

"Because I asked him to do so."

Her breath hitched and she felt her heart jumped up to in throat. "Why?"

The woman smiled again, and she felt her unease whittle away. "My beloved and I believe you have potential my dear and we wish to make you an offer."

"I…."

Sayaka waved a hand. "You don't have to make a decision now, you have plenty of time."

"My cla… family will search for me if I don't return."

"Will they now?" Sayaka asked raising an eyebrow. "Even you don't seem to consider them your family judging by that slip. It matters not; they won't be able to find here my dear."

"What?" _Byakugan_. _How is this possible?_ "Where are we?" Her eyes that would normally allow her to see through walls where now unable to see past the walls of the room she was in.

"The how, well that is rather simple, the where, I mentioned before how you where at my and my beloved's home, what I did not mention is where exactly our home is."

"Not in Konoha." She whispered.

The woman shook her head. "We are in Konoha, in a manner of speaking, this realm was created by my beloved and here time flows differently."

_Time flows differently?_ "What?"

"Look at me my dear" the woman waved a hand at her own body "do you think of me a simply being of flesh and bone?"

"Yes?"

"You would be wrong then, attempt again."

Taking a small breath she activated her byuakugan again before quickly shutting it off. "I…"

"No, my dear this is not a dream, my beloved is an actual god and I myself am not far behind."

"That…"

The woman smirked. "That's impossible? No, I assure you its quite possible, how else would everything you see be built?"

"I…..illusions?"

"No" she shook her head "everything around you is solid."

Her eyes widen when realization struck her. "Wait! Then…Naruto…"

"Oh, yes, he knows about us, as does his sister."

"He has a sister?" she asked surprised, she had never observed anyone like that around him.

"In all but blood, though we both know that blood doesn't always make family."

"I…"

"This is all overwhelming and you need time to think about everything" the woman made her way towards the door of the room "you have the run of the house, no harm shall come to you here."

* * *

><p>"Well" Yukimura began looking into his cup "where to begin?"<p>

"Um" Tenten began looking awkwardly around, she knew it must be something serious if he behaved this way "the start would be nice."

Yukimura nodded and rubbed his chin. "Hmm, I guess that after the spermatozoid entered the egg and conception occurred, it still took a while for…."

Sayaka sighed in irritation before elbowing him in the ribs. "Not from there."

…

"Heh, well she did ask from the start."

"Too far." Naruto contributed taking a small sip of his drink.

Yukimura nodded. "Right, so her situation isn't exactly pleasant, with a kidnapping attempt on her from a young age."

"A what?" Tenten asked placing her cup down.

Naruto halted with the cup near his lips. "When?"

"She was very young and it has left deep scars on her mind."

Naruto felt the need to chuckle. "So much for security in the clan."

"Actually…"

Tenten shook her head in sympathy for the girl. "It was worse wasn't it?"

"The would-be kidnapper was part of a delegation from Kumo."

"Ah" Naruto nodded satisfied "so, bad security for Konoha."

"Yes."

Tenten rubbed her head. "I'm guessing it got worse."

"Much worse." Sayaka nodded at the two.

"With a cousin that is more skilled then her in their clan style making her own reputation in the clan take a hit, her mother passing away shortly after giving birth to her sister, and well it only got worse, even she knows that her fate is most likely that of a trophy wife to a clan member."

"Well, I can almost forgive her for the stalking."

"Really?" Tenten asked looking towards her brother.

"Almost, still I could be her friend; her life is almost as messed up as ours."

"Well, I think it's actually worse than mine brother."

"Still does she actually have the skills to aid us in the future, I know her situation is bad however…"

"Yes she has great potential, neither of you were so different at start."

Both felt the ice in her tone and shuddered. "Ouch, we get it."

"Good, now you two will help her adjust when the time comes."

"Right."

"Got it."

* * *

><p>The sword came from the left with great speed this time; he ducked and struck out with his staff striking at the legs of his opponent. He expected his opponent to either jump back giving him breathing space or to jump high a situation that would give him a small opportunity to strike at his target. However when his enemy placed one of his feet on his staff he only stared dumbly at him, the swift slash that fallowed cut across his right cheek.<p>

The weapon made his second mistake there, he flinched rather then reacting accordingly, the blow that fallowed broke his right arm, and sent him crashing to the floor.

"Pathetic, it this your best Hidero?"

"That is not my name…" He began spitting blood.

"Isn't it?" the man asked rhetorically his sword pointed down at his opponents head.

"I don't have a name; I am a weapon for…" he felt his arm being broken in another place.

"A weapon would not make such mistakes, you are not a weapon you are a simple foolish little boy playing warrior." He waved the blade in front of the boy. "This is far more useful to us then you are boy. Get up this session is not over yet."

He moved his good hand to grab his staff before it was kicked from his reach.

"No, you do not deserve the weapon, boy, come at me with what you have."

He tightened his fist on the ground before using it as a crotch to get up; the situation was all too familiar to him. Pain was his teacher just as his master was, he could vividly recall all the times his master had cracked and broken his bones.

Now after fighting for a day straight exhaustion had caused him to stumble during the last of the challenges. Once more the weapon gritted its teeth. He needed to remember that he wasn't a human being anymore, he was more, he was a weapon, one that would be used to avenge his people, one that would bring swift and merciless retribution to their enemies.

He knew the odds against him, his master knew how to wield so many weapons, even for his advanced age he still had great strength in his arms, and now he also had two weapons, both deadly in their own rights, terrifying in his master's hands.

No, he was a weapon, such feelings were beyond him now, he breathed in before charging at his opponent.

* * *

><p>Hinata let out a tired breath as she got back into her bed, she had been hesitant to wander the house at first, after exploring it to find the bathroom, she had gotten slightly boulder. At first she couldn't believe that she was in another realm, one created by a god no less. With the passage of time and her own exploration of the place she had come to accept it, try as she might her bloodline proved useless in this realm, her eyes couldn't see trough the walls of the house.<p>

When she used her bloodline on the two occupants of the house she felt shock and her mouth hanged open, the two didn't have a chakra system, something that everyone had, their bodies appeared to have an odd energy inside of them, if anything it looked like their bodies were simply vessels for holding that power, it looked to her like a vast amount of water, more then she had ever seen in her short life.

She had hoped that while outside she could spot Konoha's large walls or the Hokage monument, even if she had been kidnapped it would have been impossible to keep her drugged for to long and to move her such a large distance.

Her hope of rescue died after the fifth day, after she left the house and traveled in the area near it she understood why that was. She wasn't in a normal area, going down the south path lead her into an endless forest, going down the west path somehow lead her into snowy mountains. The north path would lead her to a small cliff overlooking a green valley with a river running through the middle of it. She couldn't understand how so many different places where connected, she didn't believe they were illusions, everything felt far too real not to be.

The good part of her ordeal was that after accepting that she was in another realm, was that her sleep had been a peaceful one, besides the people already present no one else could enter the realm with our their permission. She had slept far better during her time in the realm then during the last two years at her home. As she pulled a blanket over herself she thought about the offer she was made and how she still had quite a lot of time to make her decision. The two would start showing her just what they could teach starting tomorrow.

* * *

><p>"Dismissed Agent 51."<p>

"Yes, Danzo-sama."

_How foolish, the clan refuses to listen to the Hokage's peaceful words, even with his far too generous offer. The arrogance of believing they could rebel and seize control of Konoha, no, the moment word came of their choice they should have been put down and made an example._

_Another sign of weakness on the part of Konoha for allowing such a thing to occur, and one on their side, a shinobi endures something they have forgotten. Now, a massacre will occur and the clan will be cut down. _

_With their own plan most of Uchiha will be in Konoha during the event, now my agents will remove all those who leave at the last moment for a mission. And the rest will recover specific pairs of their eyes; it would be a shame to lose such useful tools. _

* * *

><p>She breathed deeply gathering her courage before speaking. "Sayaka-san you mentioned an offer."<p>

"Ah yes" Sayaka nodded "if you will agree to it, we would teach you as we have done with Naruto and Tenten."

"What would I need to do…"

"A great deal of things, keeping our secret is first amongst them, aiding Naruto and Tenten in the future hardships is another, last is helping us with our own plans."

She nodded hesitantly. "What would…."

Sayaka waved a hand. "We won't harm your family if that is what you are afraid of, if anything we would aid you in dealing with the situation in the clan. If they respect strength, then we can train you to defeat them in combat, we will help teach you how to best them in the political arena as well."

"I'm not strong…. I lose my spars I…."

"We both know you don't go all out during your spars."

"No" she shook her head "I fight with everything I have I…."

"You do not, not against your sister, not against your cousin."

"I won't hurt them…I."

"But they will hurt you, and you are wrong, you are hurting them in your own way."

"No I…"

"You pity your cousin for his loss."

"I…"

"It was not your fault what happened that night, you were a small child, frightened and confused, taken from your home at night. No, you are not responsible for what happened that night, never believe such a thing, the blame can fall on so many others, the clan's defense was weak, Konoha who didn't keep track of diplomats who's country they had been at war with not long ago. Even before you where shy, you didn't think you where good enough sparing with your cousin, he seemed to move to swiftly, to pick things up much faster then you. Somewhere along the way that pity, that guilt, it stopped you from going all out against him. A mistake that will be rectified, when the time comes."

"I….my sister."

Sayaka nodded. "The last reminder of your mother."

"Yes."

"You simply can't bring yourself to harm her, can you?"

"No."

"And that is the problem, I am not asking you to cripple her or take pleasure from her pain, but holding back will hurt her in the future. How can she grow stronger when her opponents won't truly test her skills? You are lucky that her other sparing partners don't hold back, tell me do you truly believe that if she where to judge her skills by only fighting you that she would be prepared for an actual battle outside the wall of Konoha."

"She's talented."

"Yes, she is, and yet, that is not what I asked you. If you hold back against her how will she grow?"

"I….."

"You don't need to hurt her, or even win all the spars, getting a draw and forcing her to constantly find new ways to fight against you would be a start. You do want her to be safe in the future, to hold her own come what may come?"

"Of course I want that!" she shouted before closing her mouth realizing what she had done "I…I'm sorry...I didn't mean to…"

"It's alright, I would have been disappointed if you didn't get upset, we were talking about your little sister's safety after all."

"Thank you."

"It's alright my dear."

"What happens if I don't agree with your offer?"

"Nothing bad will happen to you."

"But something will happen?" she asked realizing the meaning of words used.

"Yes, we will lock away your memories of us."

"Oh."

"And you will not approach Naruto again."

"What?!"

"Your hobby was started to irk him, he cannot allow you to continue with it, we will simply create a memory about a confrontation between the two of you with a harsh outcome. After which should you continue with your hobby…other measures will be taken. He is close to the Hokage and could ask him to intervene in the situation."

"Oh…"

"Still you misunderstand the situation my dear."

Sayaka placed a hand on her shoulder smiling warmly at her. "What?"

"Why do you want to walk behind him when you could walk beside him?"

…..

"Just because he doesn't want you following him around that doesn't mean he doesn't want you as a friend."

"He would accept me as a friend?"

"Yes, he would my dear."

"I…cant I'm afraid, I'm just a coward, I can't fight well I…."

"You're right. You are a coward that knows only how to run away. But there is bravery in you. It takes courage to be able to look squarely at your weaknesses. Listen to me Hinata, always believe in yourself. Do this and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear."

"Do you truly believe that I can become strong?"

"Yes."

"Then, I accept."

* * *

><p>"Oh, they're all so cute!"<p>

"Um…" Naruto looked around unsure about the current situation; Hinata was to his right and his sister was to his left, the girl had slowly joined them and seemed to be fitting in, they were currently in a part of the forest overlooking a group of rabbits.

"Each of you will pick one and take care of it." Yukimura intoned looking at the three.

"Why?" Naruto asked looking at the animals.

"Because we say so." Sayaka intoned.

Tenten nodded. "Fair enough."

Naruto looked amongst the group before picking up a black colored rabbit. "This one and I shall name you Night Terror!"

Hinata picked a small white furred one. "Mrs. Whiskers."

Tenten quickly chose one grey rabbit with a black spot at its left eye. "Black Spot."

Sayaka coughed in her hand. "Actually, beside Hinata's all of them are female."

"Oh…..well, ugh, Night Terror it still is."

"Yeah, I'm sticking with the name as well."

"So, what do we do with them?" Hinata asked nursing her rabbit.

Yukimura waved them off. "Just take care of them for the time being, feed them, make sure they have plenty of exercise and that they stay healthy."

"That's all?" Naruto asked looking at the three creatures.

"Yes."

Tenten smirked. "Afraid of the challenge brother?"

"Oh, Night Terror is going to kick Black Spot's ass!"

"Ha, in your dreams, Black Spot will run laps around your little girl!"

Naruto lifted his rabbit above his face staring into its eyes. "Come on Night Terror, it's time for some training, we have to put muscle on those bones! Then we're going to put Black Spot's muscles in your stomach!"

"Don't listen to him, come on we'll built your stamina by doing some laps."

Hinata blinked several times watching the two leave while she petted her rabbit before a single word escaped her. "What?"

Sayaka patted her on the head. "Just ignore the two; they tend to get somewhat competitive."

"Is it really alright?" she asked looking down at the small animal in her arms.

"Yes, just do your best to take care of him, you will understand later why it is required."

"Alright."

* * *

><p>AN :<p>

Sadly with work and real life getting more complicated this chapter got pushed back a great deal more than I ever intended, I do hope that I can get the next chapters out this year, it depends on the workload and what issues may pop up. I want to publish 6 more chapters written out that need to be heavily edited, the anniversary chapter has 17000 words at the moment.

-this chapter still needs a few more words added here and there

-Hinata's acceptance of her situation and offer was very rushed, far more than I desired, sadly it is what it is

Quotes used from :

-Darynda Jones, Death and the Girl Next Door

- Steven Erikson

_- Baron Humbert von Gikkingen_

-Shinku, 5th Rozen Maiden

Anything you recognize belongs to someone else. Any overtly original twists placed on old ideas you may wish to incorporate, feel free. Completely original ideas and concepts, please ask.

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